


The inofficial number 42

by CeresOktavia



Series: The inofficial number 42 [1]
Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Canon, Dark Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:23:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeresOktavia/pseuds/CeresOktavia
Summary: Pushing a kingdom towards begging Nazarick for their protection sounds like an easy task to Demiurge.Until he meets someone supposed to be dead.Starting after the events of vol. 8 since I haven't read more up until nowGonna keep shipping to the minimum my weak heart is capable of, or more precisely I will post shipping and nsfw content seperatly ;)





	1. Ghost of a supposed Dead

The plan for the final subjugation of the Re-Estice kingdom was as simple as it was genius. At least that was Demiurges opinion. In his disguise as Jaldabaoth, he should attack the kingdom again while Lord Ainz as Momon would be in Baharuth and therefore too far away to interfere. After Nazarick revealing itself, of course as its own state and righteous ruler of this land, they could demand recognition of their claims in exchange for annihilating the supposed threat. Due to their ¨rescue¨ they would be indebted to Nazarick and would be easier to include due to being thankful, at least that was the prediction of Lord Ainz. Make them believe subjugation would be an advantage and make it so tempting, that refusing would look like the dumbest thing to do, that was Lord Ainzs exact phrasing. Though Demiurge thought humans should just happily subjugate themselves without hesitating, looking further into it, Lord Ainz approach made more then sense. Humans were conceited fools, believing the world was their property. A disbelieve that demanded harsh punishment in his opinion, but Lord Ainz was against punishing them. Demiurge couldn´t help but admire such charitable mercy towards an absolutely inferior race. He himself wouldn´t be able to, the arrogance and stupidity of humans just made him sick.

¨Master Demiurge, all preparations are completed¨ Pulcinella entered the room with these words. He bowed politely. ¨Yuri Alpha is already on-site, as ordered by Lord Ainz.¨

¨Thank you Pulcinella. Then I´ll be heading to the meeting point. I´m relying on you handling everything in my absence.¨

¨Of course! Nothing makes me happier than making these miserable creatures happy.¨ The clown bowed again.

Pulcinellas comment made Demiurge grin. ¨Very well, then I´ll take my leave.¨ Without waiting for an answer, Demiurge teleported. In the blink of an eye the scenery changed from his office on the albelion sheep farm to thick forest. Yuri immediately greeted him with a polite bow. ¨Welcome Master Demiurge. Everything is ready, we can immediately start with executing Lord Ainzs plan.¨ She was already wearing the mask they had used as an improvised disguise the last time they had attacked the capital. ¨Perfect.¨ Demiurge reached into space and took out his own mask. ¨Then we should start immediately.¨ He put his own mask on and turned his gaze towards the perfectly visible castle towers. **_Be thankful Lord Ainz has forbidden your annihilation._** With a simple gesture, he ordered the summoned demon hordes to begin.

 

 

The Demons had startled the local adventurers faster then expected, which was more an advantage than a disadvantage for executing their plan. Giving them the means to easily locate him wasn´t really up Demiurges alley but it was unfortunately necessary. That the members of Blue Rose were brave enough to face him again deserved a little respect in his book. Not all humans would voluntarily run to their own execution. Though it baffled him a little to see them in full numbers, but it didn´t bother him. He could still perfectly execute his order to not kill their leader, Lakyus, while she was present. All it took was a little more self restraint, not a big problem. The course he had agreed upon with Yuri wouldn´t be disturbed either. To this point everything was within predicted limits. Even the from his point of view more than braggy words of the Blue Rose were according to Lord Ainzs prediction. **_Living things with at least a little intelligence are very predictable_** , he thought amused.

¨Monster, you´re going to pay for your crimes!¨, yelled the little mage Evil Eye. He intended to answer but then he recognized a magic barrier, just recently created. He was immediately on alert. **_Is this the enemy that had controlled Shalltear?_** His train of thoughts stopped. **_No! This can´t be!_** Within the barrier, which he identified as illusionary camouflage field, he could sense a familiar energy. One of the Supreme Beings. To be precise the only Supreme, he knew couldn´t be in this world. It was simply impossible. This particular Supreme Being was dead, he knew it for sure. He remembered the other Supreme Beings mourning her death. He had witnessed Lord Ainz almost losing it while talking with Lord Ulbert. There was no way he could forget that conversation.

¨Ulbert we need to do something! We can´t simply leave her to die! I refuse to fail her again!¨

¨Calm down Momonga. It´s been a year already. I know it´s hard but we should accept it and let her go.¨

 

Only remembering it hurt. Anger flared up in an intensity he had never felt before. Some insolent individual was bold enough to imitate said Supreme. Pandora´s Actor could imitate the Supreme beings, meaning it wasn´t impossible. It only fuelled his anger. Having the nerve to imitate a Supreme was already bad enough, but choosing the only dead one made this offence much worse. He balled his hands to fists. No matter who was hiding himself with powerful illusionary magic, he would kill this obnoxious imitator and make his corpse a present for Lord Ainz. This unprecedented anger swept away his self-restraint for a split second. Without hesitating he attacked the illusionary veil. ¨Hellfire Wall!¨ The Veil shattered into million purple pieces. The person previously within said veil was now standing a few meters next to its location. Now Yuri noticed this person too and changed into a fighting stance, burning with murderous intent. Though the face of this person was distorted by an illusionary veil, the rest of his appearance was clearly an imitation of the dead Supreme. ¨Dimensional Lock!¨ **_Oh no, you´re not going anywhere._**  His already boiling anger was fuelled further.

¨I’m sorry, it looks like I courted your resentment. That was the last thing I wanted to do.¨ The person bowed elegantly. **_How dare you even imitate her voice?_** Demiurges anger was further fuelled, again. ¨I only wanted to verify the rumours buzzing around the city myself. Therefore I’m not the least bit interested in fighting with you. Would you kindly cancel your teleportation blockade?¨ That was way too much, even for Demiurges self restraint. Without losing a word, he attacked again.

¨Hellfire Wall!¨

¨Spellbreaker!¨

His magic simply deflagrated. This person couldn’t be an average human. Those weren’t able to counter tier 7 magic. Again the person addressed him. ¨I’m terribly sorry. I really have no intention in fighting you but if you continue to attack me, I’ll be taking the liberty of defending myself. It would save both of us a lot of time and trouble if you just let me leave.¨ The body language of this person showed no signs of hostility, on the contrary, it looked relaxed. He felt mocked and it led him to cast away the last bit of his self restraint. ¨Stay back.¨ His short order was addressed to Yuri and she obedient made a few steps back, though her murderous intent was still burning. The Blue Rose was already completely irrelevant, they simply ignored them. Only the imitator in front of them was of interest. ¨Aspect of the Devil: Razor-sharp Claws¨ The Blue Rose members changed to a defending stance, ready to counter this demons attack somehow. But instead of attacking them, Demiurge attacked the person who dared to mock the Supreme Beings. He hit, cutting through his target with a side blow. At least it looked like it, but then the illusion shattered into purple splinters. His target was suddenly standing behind him. Before the person was able to say or do something he attacked again and saw how the target he just had hit shattered. His intended target was now standing 10 meters to the right, still completely calm. ¨I repeat, I have no intention to fight you.¨ The intentions of this person couldn’t have interested him less. Again he attacked without saying a word and again he hit a shattering illusion instead of his target. **_Tricksters, damn it I hate those nags._** He straightened up, approximately 5 meters to his left was his target, the offence against the Supreme Beings in person. He attacked again and again the illusion shattered. This cat-and-mouse game only further fuelled his anger. This time the person stood 3 meters behind his previous location. “Please, this is really unnecessary.” He opened his arms to a pacifying gesture. It only made him angrier. Again he attacked and this time he saw the person actually move, trying to evade his attack but too slow. This time he didn’t hit a fake target and ripped 4 bloody lines into the left side of his targets stomach. He immediately attacked again, but his target was suddenly 2 meters farther left and kept the wound shut with his hand, face lowered. ¨Alright. Since you´re not listening … Soul Strike!¨ Before Demiurge could realise what was happening, he felt the impact of a ghost sphere. 9 followed in the blink of an eye and sent him flying. He felt how his rips gave in under the pressure of the impact. Yuri wanted to hurry over to help him, but he held her back with a raised hand while he picked himself up. It was very painful but his anger kept him upright. His opponent was still keeping his wound shut, but his gaze clearly went in Demiurges direction. Still he felt no hostility.

 ** _Stop mocking me!_** He was screaming inwardly as he jumped forward to attack again. His blow missed his target due to it managing to shift its weight backwards in time, but he caught the veil. While it was still shattering, Demiurges target jumped back. Already half way into his next attack he saw his opponents face and froze. All murderous intent, all anger blown away. **_This can’t be. Please, this has to be a bad dream!_** His thoughts were running circles, desperately trying to find an explanation for the image in front of him. He couldn’t sense Yuris murderous intent anymore, she must have been as startled as he was. ¨What’s wrong? Have you seen a ghost?¨ The person in front of him showed a dark, knowing grin. In her purple eyes shined a light which reminded Demiurge of the lazy dancing flames of an almost burnt down fire. **_Impossible!_** His mind was screaming but there was no way to deny that this was real, the pain in his rips was too intense. ¨Retreat! Now!¨, he screamed. Yuri jumped to his side, he grabbed her arm, cancelled the blockade and teleported away with her.

The scenery of his office appeared in front of him. Almost simultaneous with the teleportation, a wave of pain nearly knocked him over. He touched his rips and tried to stay upright. It wasn’t the brightest idea. He hissed and grimaced in pain. Sharply inhaling was even more painful. Intuitively he hunched. ¨Master Demiurge please sit down. You are heavily wounded.¨ Yuri pulled a chair over. Completely untypically, he just flopped down and leaned far back, overstretched his back and was relieved to find out that it made breathing less painful. ¨We have to inform Lord Ainz immediately¨, he squeezed out. First Yuri was confused, but she composed herself within seconds and looked around. Demiurge pointed to a stack of scrolls on one of the desks. She hurried over, picked a scroll for ¨Message¨ and handed it to Demiurge. He took a deep breath again and once more grimaced in pain, then he activated the spell within the scroll.

 

¨Yes?¨

¨Please excuse me for disturbing you Lord Ainz but I have important news for you.¨

¨Demiurge? Aren’t you supposed to drive Re-Estice into our arms right now?¨

¨Apologies my lord, there was an incident that prevented a full execution of your orders.¨

¨WHAT? … Do excuse me. What happened that made it impossible for you to fully execute my orders?¨

Demiurge swallowed hard. He was afraid of Lord Ainzs possible reaction. ¨My Lord, Lady Marlianken is alive and she is in this world.¨

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that's it for the start. I'm sorry for my weird english (if it appears weird of course), please forgive me it isn't my native language


	2. Hope and Disenchantment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demiurge feeling like signing his own death sentence while Ainz is in for an emotional rollercoaster

¨What the hell were you thinking when you told Lord Ainz about this idiocy?¨ Albedos yelling echoed through Demiurges quarters on the seventh level of Nazarick. ¨And that you of all people fell for such an obvious imitation is just weak!¨ She was stomping outraged from one end of the room to another while throwing accusations in Demiurges direction. He remained silent, mainly because breathing was already painful enough but also because he knew she wouldn’t listen anyway. ¨This is just utterly ridiculous! Everyone witnessed the other Supremes mourning her death! Lady Marlianken is definitely dead! She died in the World of our creators so it’s impossible for her to be here!¨ Suddenly Albedo stopped in her tracks and shot Demiurge an icy glance full of hostility. ¨How dare you fall for such an illusion? And then you added insult to injury by telling Lord Ainz about this nonsense! Did you miss how much he had suffered?¨ Demiurge bit his lip. Of course he didn’t miss it. How could he? Among the 41 Supreme Beings no one mourned as much as Lord Ainz did. Just as Albedo was about to start another round of furious accusations, the door was opened and Ainz himself entered. Everyone present got down on one knee, though Demiurge was more stiff than usual in doing so. Accompanied was Ainz by Pestonya and to everyone’s surprise Pandora’s Actor.

¨Enough, get up.¨ Ainzs voice sounded icy. Everyone obeyed his order and stood up. ¨Demiurge, I ask you, are you absolutely sure that the person you met was Marlianken?¨ Demiurge swallowed and then answered with a clear ¨Yes my lord.¨ Ainz turned around. ¨Pandora’s Actor, change your appearance to Marliankens.¨ ¨Jawohl!¨ Pandora’s Actor saluted and changed his appearance as ordered. Seeing the now changed Pandora’s Actor made it even more painfully aware to Demiurge what kind of range his reaction had. The long blonde hair, braided thinly directly on the left side of her head and ended in a ponytail, the for succubi typical brown horns, the slightly asian features, her slender and tall physique, the clothing combination of a simple white silk shirt, a dark-blue and mid-length jacket, simple black pants and black gloves only reaching down half way her hands and at last the black wings sprouting from her lower back. Not to mention her eye catching piercing around the left side of her lower lip. The woman Pandora’s Actor now depicted was definitely the woman Demiurge fought with a few hours ago. Only one detail was different. Again Ainz addressed Demiurge. ¨You are ABSOLUTELY sure that this is the woman you fought with?¨ ¨Yes. This is the woman I fought with. Only one detail doesn’t match.¨ ¨Really? And which one is it?¨ Demiurge felt nauseous. It felt like he was signing his own death sentence with his answer. ¨The eyes my lord. Pandora’s Actor depicts the reflections as raging flames. But they were only the lazy remains of an almost burned down fire.¨

Ainz stayed silent for a moment, only looking at Demiurge with piercing eyes. It was only for seconds but these seconds were enough to let Demiurge accept his impending death. Much to his surprise Ainz turned to Pestonya. ¨Check his injuries.¨ Pestonya bowed and then used magic to obey the given order. ¨Light contusions on his torso, 3 broken and one almost broken rip in addition and several bruises, woof.¨ ¨I see. How many times did she attack you?¨

¨Once my lord.¨

¨And how many spheres did hit you?¨

¨10 my lord.¨

¨I see, then this was supposed to be a wake-up call. She went easy on you.¨

The shock about this insight was heavy for everyone, except Ainz of course. If this was a wake-up call then Demiurge wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a serious attack. Albedo wasn’t able to hide her confusion. ¨Please forgive me lord Ainz, but you and the other Supreme Beings mourned Lady Marliankens death, right? So how can you assume that Demiurge was fighting against her?¨ Ainz sighed, something he avoided around the residents of Nazarick under normal circumstances. ¨We did mourn her, but no one was able to confirm her demise. Meaning there is a slight chance that she is still alive.¨ Albedo wanted to oppose but Ainz told her with a raised hand to remain silent. ¨Additionally Demiurges description of the reflections in her eyes makes sense within the given context. You are aware that she is an elder succubus right?¨ Albedo nodded sheepishly. ¨Then you are well aware that those reflections mirror her will to live. It makes sense that the flames are this low, since she almost died.¨ Nobody dared to ask why it made sense or why her death couldn’t be confirmed. ¨Very well, Demiurge.¨ The addressed one flinched. ¨Explain to me again, why did you decide to attack?¨ His tone contained a hint of a thread and it sent a chill down Demiurges spine. ¨I thought it could only be someone imitating her like Pandora’s Actor right now, since you and the other Supremes mourned her.¨ Demiurge had never been this thankful for the ability to hide his emotions. ¨I didn’t recognize it was really her until I saw her eyes.¨

¨I see.¨ Ainz again remained silent for a moment, the he addressed Pestonya. ¨Heal all injuries that could possibly get life-threating to a point where this possibility is no longer given.¨ He looked at Demiurge, who had the feeling to get stabbed by Ainz non-existing eyes. ¨Demiurge your behaviour is graspable and therefore I can’t complain about it. But it doesn’t change the fact that you attacked Marlianken. Your punishment will be to bear the pain of your injuries until they heal on their own.¨ Demiurge just bowed wordlessly. He had the impression that he got away with a black eye.

 

 

 

It had already been a week since Demiurge had met Marlianken. At least he was sure that he had met her. Yuri had the same opinion, but she wasn’t that sure. Since than Ainz had done everything in his power to find her, to no avail. Not even Nigredo had been able to find the slightest trace. The prospect to see his presumably dead friend again prepossessed Ainz with an euphoria that not even the emotion suppression of an undead could deaden. But with every day passing his hopes were disenchanted.

**_Was it really Marli who fought against Demiurge? If it was her, she would give us the means to locate her or try to contact me. At least she had asked him if he had seen a ghost, meaning she recognized him. Or was it only a very clever trick? If it was one, then the one performing it has to be a genius. Leading Demiurge down the garden path is no easy feat. But how did he know what she looked like? Or how her voice sounded? Did the offender somehow read Demiurges memories? But then he would have depicted the reflections as raging flames, like Pandora’s Actor did, and not like Demiurge described it. Unless he knew about the special properties of those reflections. … Damn it, all that pondering isn’t leading anywhere. There won’t be any certainty if we don’t find her._ **

Ainzs thoughts circled around this sole topic. He had to find out the truth. If she was still alive, then he had to find her. Leaving her alone again and therefore failing her again was no option. Should this however proof itself as a fraud, then he would personally torture the culprit until he would beg for his death. The thought of someone daring to soil the memory of her darkened his mood noticeable. ¨Lord Ainz? Is everything alright?¨ Albedos voice stopped his spiralling thoughts. ¨Yes Albedo, everything is fine.¨ He pacifyingly waved her off. “Please excuse my insolence, but I think someone managed to trick Demiurge.”

**_What? Is she reading my thoughts now?_ **

¨Is it so obvious that I’m thinking about it?¨ She nodded. ¨Unfortunately it seems like you are right. It’s a shame to acknowledge it, but if it is really the case then we got an extremely powerful enemy.¨ ¨We will crush any enemy daring to mock you or the other creators.¨ Her dark and determined expression didn’t fit her usual behaviour, but it pointed the tone of the last days up. Except for those two who had met Marlianken, every resident of Nazarick was more or less sure this was an extremely skilled impostor. Until final confirmation, if ever possible, they wouldn’t know which side was right. Ainz sighed, like he did often in these last few days. It earned him worried looks, not only from Albedo, but from the by standing maid and the hidden eight-legged assassins as well, though he couldn’t really see the latter. To distract himself he turned his attention to the paperwork in front of him. Faster than usual, he worked his way through the flood of reports. The sooner he was finished, the sooner he could return to E-Rantel and fulfil a contract as adventurer Momon. Preferably hunt down and kill some feared creature, just to vent of a little.

 

¨My lord you look stressed.¨ Naberals comment was more a voiced statement. Hearing from every ankle how stressed he looked annoyed Ainz. ¨Everything is fine Naberal. As soon as we reach E-Rantel we’ll fetch the most difficult extermination contract the guild has to offer and leave.¨ Admitting that he simply needed to beat on something didn’t match his image of a great ruler, but at the moment he couldn’t care less about it. The main gate of E-Rantel came into view shortly afterwards and much to his relieve there was no waiting line for entering the city. As he came closer to the gate, he was greeted by one guard on duty. ¨Ah, Sir Momon! Please enter.¨ It obliged his interests. A short ¨Thank you kindly¨ and he rode past the guardhouse. Hamsuke knew the way to the guild, he didn’t need to do anything. After arriving at the guild building he leapt off with more drive than usual, which lead Hamsuke to flinch. It looked like she thought his bad mood was her fault. Presumably this was the reason she was so suspiciously quiet. ¨Calm down Hamsuke. My bad mood has nothing to do with you.¨ Relieved, the hamster raised her whiskers. ¨This really calms myself, that it does.¨ He patted her behind her ear, her absolute favourite spot, than he entered the building. Determined as usual, he headed towards the front desk. He was acclaimed immediately. ¨Welcome back, Sir Momon.¨ The woman at the front desk bowed, he replied with a nod. ¨I finished my last contract. Do you have something new for me?¨ The woman smiled warmly. ¨A traveller asked for you by name.¨ Ainz raised his non-existent eyebrow. People asking for him by name were nothing special anymore, but he had a bad feeling about this request. ¨The client isn’t here at the moment, but she told us to look for her at the city archive. Should I send someone to inform her about your return?¨ ¨Of course, we don’t want to let her wait unnecessarily.¨ ¨As you wish. I’ll send a messenger to her and prepare a meeting room for you.¨ ¨Thank you.¨ The woman bowed again and hurried to complete her tasks. Ainz himself went outside to inform Naberal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little short, I know. More will follow I promise :D


	3. Of Ghosts and Traps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another "Ghost" poses a request to the adventurer Momon and everything reeks of traps

Ainz and Naberal already waited in the meeting room. It had only been 5 Minutes at best but they felt significantly longer. Naberal had tried to convince him that swallowing such obvious bait was a bad idea, but he didn’t care. He had explained to her that he wanted to hear the request and would then discuss the pros and cons as well as their next steps with Albedo and Demiurge. Since she had no means to change his opinion, Naberal simply had to accept it. “The city archive isn’t that far away, how much longer are they gonna take?” Practically as an answer to his question someone knocked at the door. It opened and the woman who had previously watched the front desk entered the room. “Sir Momon, Lady Nabe may I introduce you to Alice Lidell.” She made a step aside and behind her a woman showed up, wearing a simple black blouse and simple black pants. Ainz was sure his heart would have skipped a beat if he still had one. The face of this woman was the face of his dead friend. Not her avatars, her real one. Even the cut of her short black hair was the same, at least the same as on the last photographs he had seen. The introduced one bowed slightly but polite. “Good day! I’m very delighted for the opportunity to meet such famous adventurers.” Even her voice sounded similar. “Please have a seat. May I offer you something to drink?” The woman of the guild was taking catering like a duck of water. Shepherding people who would pay an enormous amount of money to an adventurer, and therefore over the fees an enormous amount to the guild, seemed to come natural to her. “Thank you, not at the moment.” Alice Lidell smiled politely. She took seat vis-á-vis to Ainz, very stiff in his opinion, and the woman from the guild left the room after bowing politely. The door fell shut and to Ainz a dance with danger began. “May I ask you who you are and why you have asked for me by name?” **_Addressing the topic directly may help here, I hope._** “Sure! As the lady from the guild already told you, my name is Alice Lidell. I’m a historian from the tower of truth and to be honest your reputation lead me to ask specifically for you.” She had a friendly smile on her lips and her posture was open and relaxed, too relaxed from his point of view. “My reputation has lead you to ask for me?” There was hardly any way his alarm bells could have ringed any louder. She nodded approvingly. “People say that your group is adamat among adamant adventurers.” “Really?” “You didn’t know it? Practically everyone is talking about it. The story of your heroic deeds is spreading far and wide, even across borders. If only half of it is true then calling you this is more than justified.” He thought about it for a second. He didn’t like how she was trying to string him in with obeisance. Additionally it irritated him that she looked like the real Marlianken. If it was magic then the user was skilfully hiding it. To top it off her completely calm and relaxed behaviour poked his suspicion. “If people decided to talk about me in such ways I can hardly do anything about it, I guess. You said you’re from the tower of truth. I never heard of it before. Where is it located?” **_Alright, how much will you spill?_** “I’m not surprised you never heard of the tower of truth. Until a few years ago the tower, including its residents, was isolated and laid hidden by magic. Only after the tragic death of the last first seeker and due to the following change in leadership it was decided to reconnect with the world.” **_Sounds like a guild base similar to Nazarick._** His curiosity poked out its head. “Why exactly was the tower hidden in the first place?” **_Come on. Gimme something more to work with._** “One of the very first seekers decided to hide the tower, since multiple species are living there together. Even species considered a threat by human society. The current government decided to reconnect and collect the history and knowledge of the world like it was the initial duty of the tower.” **_Thanks, this’ll help._** He spaced a little forward. “I thank you for your honesty. Shall we discuss the details of your request now?” “Of course! Like I just told you, the tower collects history as well as knowledge. Therefore historians like me are sent out. By studying multiple sources I was able to locate an underground archive in this area. Since I have no idea what kind of security measurements were made there, I’d like to contract you to protect me. I’d rather contract someone overqualified than running into a trap or getting crushed by a guardian. I hope you’ll understand my concerns.” “Of course!” **_Yes knowledge is power and you just told me more than you think._** “This is very calming, really. So I assume you’ll accept my request? I’ll also be paying for your additional costs like food.” It was ridiculously obvious that this was a trap. But the chance to catch the trapper with all possibilities Nazarick had to offer was too tempting to refuse. “Sure. Preserving our history for future generations couldn’t be appreciated enough.” “I sincerely thank you.” Alice Lidell beamed with joy and bowed to them. “May I ask you, when do you intend to leave?” To Ainzs surprise Naberal had posed this question. “Since I have to restock my own supplies and assuming you’ll need to prepare as well, I suggest meeting at E-Rantels south gate after sunrise tomorrow.” “Sounds reasonable, agreed.”

 

 

 

Collecting all the intel he needed and eliminating possible disruptive factors within the short time given was almost impossible. But almost quiet nailed it. With all guardians collaborating Ainz gathered all intel he needed to plan their next steps.

“Auras beasts actually found an underground archive in the near E-Rantel. There were no traces of a prepared ambush.”

“Thank you Albedo. Tell Aura her beasts should stay there on look-out, just in case.”

“As you wish my lord.” The succubus bowed.

“Very well, this trap is more than obvious. The matter of price is how we shall catch them off-guard before they catch us. Any suggestions?”

“Since we don’t have enough time to fully investigate the area, I’d suggest you should carry a teleportation statue with you. In case of an emergency you could escape this way by switching place with someone else. Additionally it would make sense to station disguised troops nearby and shield the whole area against observational magic. We should also use the remaining time to search within the archive for traps or the likes.” Accusing Demiurge of probably being tricked was absolutely justified within the last few days, but if things came to security and short-term tactics his skills where operating with full capacity, as always.

“I’d like to let my enemies believe that I took their bait and am blindly running into their trap if possible. Is it possible to manipulate their observational magic in our favour instead of blocking it?”

“As far as I know, this shouldn’t be no problem.”

“Perfect! I’m relying on the two of you taking all preparations necessary. No matter who is trying to lure us into this trap, we should let them know that it is a bad idea to take us on.”

“At your command, Lord Ainz.” With one voice their answer was given immediately, accompanied by both of them bowing to him.

 

 

 

 

Shortly after sunrise, Ainz left the inn he had took quarters in as Momon accompanied by Naberal. He was more than determined to catch that filthy trapper. Therefor he had struggled all night with strategic preparations and the constant tries to argue him out of personally participate. Though he could understand their concerns, hell he even shared some, he also knew that he played a too important role in succeeding with this plan. Yes Pandora’s Actor would be able to stand in for him and therefor eliminate the impending threat for his own life, but he had the unpleasant tendency to overact. He himself blowing his cover was too risky. So the whole thing was stuck with Ainz. “Damn it, where is that fur ball? HEY HAMSUKE!” Upon Ainzs loud call the oversized rodent darted around the corner and came to stop right before him. “I’m very sorry master, that I am.” “It’s alright. Are you ready?” She puffed out her cheeks. “Yes I am.” “My lord? May I ask you what you intend to do if our enemy attacks on an earlier point than expected?” “In case this might happen, some auf Auras beasts will follow us in a safe distance.” “Understood my lord.” Recently sceptical comments were the only things Naberal said, unfortunately not without reason. Expecting the trap to not spring until the archive was simply naïve. An earlier ambush was definitely possible. However some parameters simply didn’t match. First, the admittedly not complete investigation of the archive brought no results. Sure there had been traps but they had been way too primitive to surprise someone let alone catch someone. Additionally Nigredo was only able to find traces of tier 2 magic and below around the area. No matter from which ankle he looked at it, it made absolutely no sense. **_It doesn’t mean they’re not after you, just because you’re paranoid. Or maybe I’m just overly cautious? Maybe I just want to see a trap and this Alice really just wants to dig up some knowledge treasures?_** At first that thought wasn’t absurd but remembering her appearance made him dismiss it. Coincidences like that didn’t exist, not even in a world where the laws of physically possible stuff were happily ignored over and over again. “Let’s go, I want this charade to be over as soon as possible.”

 

Like agreed, Alice Lidell was already waiting for them in front of the southern gate, with a surprising amount of luggage on her back. It seemed like she was looking around, completely bored. As soon as she had spotted Ainz and his companions she showed a friendly smile. They had barely reached hearing range as she greeted them. “Morning!” Her overly friendly behaviour had already poked Ainz suspicion when he met her. Being in such a good mood at this hour only was further proof, that he was right in finding her suspicious. **_Whoever is that cheerful at this hour can’t be normal._** He dismissed that thought quickly. Letting himself get distracted was the last thing needed. “Good Morning.” He forced himself to return her kindness. “You’re carrying peculiar amount of luggage with you.” If it had been possible, Ainz would have scolded Naberal on the spot for not being subtle. He desperately hoped her carless comment hadn’t already blown their cover. To his relief Alice just chuckled. “A lot of people think that way. You’d be surprised how much space empty notebooks and writing tools need.” She set her luggage on the ground and pulled a parchment scroll out on a side pocket. “I’ve marked the approximate location on this map. Though I couldn’t manage to locate the archive more precisely.”  She uncoiled the map and held it in front of herself, perfectly readable for Ainz and Naberal. The spot she had marked with a circle matched with Auras report. “You encircled a rather small area. That’s very precise in my opinion.” Again she just smiled. “Maybe by your scale. By the first seekers scale this is sloppiness.” She coiled the map up and stuck it back to where she pulled it from. “Shall we?” That constant overly friendly behaviour heightened Ainzs alertness. “Sure, go ahead.” With decent momentum Alice hauled her luggage up and right on her back. Only now Ainz recognized that she not only looked like Marlianken but was of the same height and stature. Jet another point for his “This is a Trap”- list. Aside from that, he swore he had just seen her grimace in pain for a split second. Light- footed Alice turned around and headed towards the gate. At a minimum distance Ainz and his companions followed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heading out to catch the trapper ... maybe ... I'm currently translating my already written stuff as fast as I can, but I'm sure some errors will most defenitively sneek in. Feel free to shove them right in my face ^-^


	4. Nothing as it seems

“May I ask you a few questions?” Ainz tried to gather a little more Intel through Smalltalk. “Sure, go ahead.” Again she showed him her friendly smile. This ongoing overly friendly behaviour slowly but surely made Ainz feel sick. “You’ve repeatedly talked about a first seeker. Who is it?” For a split second astonishment flashed over her features. “First seeker is the title, granted to the administrator of the tower. They are appointed for life. If the current first seeker dies, a new one will be determined by a lottery.” “Lottery? Sounds quiet random to me.” “It is indeed, but it’s the only way to ensure that no family dynasty establishes itself and runs us down with tyranny.” “I see. So your current first seeker seems to be very strict, if he would call your work on locating this archive sloppiness.” “Strict is quiet the understatement. She is obsessed with absolute accuracy.” A little laugh bubbled up on her end and then the group fell silent again. **_Damn it, nothing useful!_** To know that the leader of this group was a woman didn’t help. Knowing that they choose their leader by lottery was also useless. “Excuse me, would you kindly pull the map out of my bag?” He was puzzled by this question for a moment. **_Maybe this is their attack sign? I hope Auras beasts are close enough._** He grabbed the map and pulled it out, nothing happened. **_False Alarm I guess._** After shortly consulting her map, Alice looked around. “That’s strange. We should actually be quiet close. Do you see any hints pointing to an entrance?” Everyone looked around. There really weren’t any hints. “Master, a draft is coming out of the ground, that it does.” Hamsukes gaze was full of pride. Simultaneously recoiling a map and setting an oversized backpack to the ground seemed strange to Ainz. However it seemed like Alice had practice and therefore no problems. Nonetheless he was sure that she just had grimaced in pain again. She put the map back to where Ainz had pulled it from and walked over to Hamsuke. Carefully she pated the floor with her foot, seemingly testing its stability. “The floor gives out, looks like you found our entrance.” Proud with herself, Hamsuke puffed out her cheeks. “The key question is how to open it.” She thought about it for moment, then went back to her backpack, started to rummage in a pocket on the front and pulled a grimoire out. This item lead Ainz to believe, the estimated ambush was about to begin. It opened on its own as Alice relinquished her hold on it and started to float. “Frost Diver!” A frosty beam shot out of the grimoire, hitting the supposed door and left a frozen rectangle on the ground.  The grimoire itself stopped floating and Alice caught it with on hand, while it fell down. The estimated ambush didn’t happen, much to Ainzs confusion. “Perfect.” More talking with herself than with anyone else, Alice put away the grimoire and started to rummage through the main pocket of her backpack. “What did you just do?” “I was freezing the door with a spell that renders traps harmless, no matter if magical or not. **_I’m more interested in where you got that multiple use grimoire._** As far as Ainz knew, grimoire were single use items. That this particular grimoire contained tier 5 magic was just the icing on the cake. **_Who the hell is she?_** This question bothered Ainz more and more. With a triumphant “Finally” she pulled a foldable lantern out of her bag. At least it looked like a foldable lantern. She set the lantern on top of the frozen spot and the ice started to melt. “Mind telling me what you’re doing?” “Oh, I’m sorry. This lantern accelerates the defrosting process. If it goes like it should …” She was interrupted by a loud metallic whang. “ … wonderful, the hinge gave out. Now it should be possible to simply lift the door out of its frame. The easiest solution might not always be classy, but as long as it works it’s okay to use it right?” If there was a sign to attack, then this whang would have been the perfect one, but nothing happened. **_What the hell is going on? When will my enemies finally leave their cover?_** While Ainz kept questioning himself, if hadn’t just imagined there being a trap, Alice tried to lift up the door. Her futile attempts were disconcerting. **_Maybe she is just what she said she is. Man I could just bitch slap myself._** Without saying anything, he walked over to her, just lifted the door up with one hand and let it fall to the other side. The friendly smile she shot him as an answer to his help just made him doubt his evaluation further. “Thank you, that door was heavier than expected.” “It’s alright.” Where the door had formally been, a stairway was now leading down, no light sources. To better prepare themselves, they had marked to door with an alarm spell. But this spell was only now triggered. Alice used her lantern to light a little ahead into the darkness. “Smells musty. I hope there is no water damage down there. That would be a real disaster.” If this was acting, then this woman was consistent, that was for sure. “Well going into unknown, potentially dangerous areas isn’t really my specialty …” “That’s why you hired us, didn’t you?” Determined, Naberal squeezed herself past Alice and took the lantern out of her hand in the process. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be going ahead.” **_Overly cautious, as usual. I really should explain to her again why a supposed pure caster is always the rear-guard._** “It’s alright, go ahead.” Confused and additionally a little surprised Alice let Naberal take over the lead. While the women had already started their decent, Ainz approached Hamsuke. “Listen, you will stay up here. If anything strange happens, you’ll inform Aura about it, got it?” “Yes Master.” Hamsuke tried to salute, but it just looked ridiculous. “Sir Momon? Is everthing alright?” The call already sounded like it they were far away. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” He followed the women down the stairway, there was no need for a light, he could perfectly see in the dark. Almost at the end of the stairway he caught up to them. Alice looked at him, puzzled. “Hamsuke doesn’t like to stay behind, I had to convince her.” “Huh … I see.” Her puzzled look was replaced by a mix of curiosity and determination, Ainz had seen countless times in treasure hunting movies. Still Naberal was leading them, setting quiet the pace. After a short time they found an enormous cavern. Alice made an overly happy squeak, which startled Ainz. “Amazing! Such a big archive and in such a good condition. I wonder what kind of knowledge treasures are stored down here.” Not even 10 minutes ago, Ainz had questioned himself about his evaluation of this situation. Yet the renewed parallel between Alice and Marlianken blew his doubts quickly away.

 ** _Come on! What are you waiting for?_** As if on cue, Alices tone of voice changed completely. “You know, there is one thing about you that pokes my suspicion sir Momon.” **_There we go. You’re finally showing your true colours._** “Not even a half year ago you showed up out of nowhere and reached the adamant rank in no time. The deeds on your count are no easy feat, even for the awakened half gods of the theocracy, but you had seemingly no problems.” Both Ainz and Naberal readied themselves for an attack. “Not to mention that you showing up in E-Rantel and an incident in a village near it are matching too well. As to my sources, this incident was settled in favour of the villagers by a caster naming himself Ainz Ooal Gown.” Her friendly smile was replaced by a knowing, slightly malicious grin. “So how should I call you? Momon? Ainz Ooal Gown? Or do you rather prefer Momonga?”

**_Wait what? Where did you get that name from?_ **

Without waiting for orders, Naberal attacked. “Twin Maximize Magic: Chain Dragon Lightning!” “Spellbreaker!” The spell Naberal had cast simply deflagrated, much to her confusion. It only confused her even more, when Ainz burst out laughing. “My lord, you …” “It’s alright Naberal, she isn’t an enemy. Right Marli?” Terrified Naberal returned her gaze to the woman in front of her and saw how an illusion shattered. Now it was no longer Alice standing in front of her but the presumably dead Marlianken, flashing them a mischievous and amused grin. She carried out a comedic curtsy. “Damn, that took long! And I had yet shoved all those hints right into your face.”   “You know how things go when you focus too much on something. You inevitably will miss the obvious.” He laughed again, she tuned in with a giggle. “But seriously, you didn’t not recognize me until I used Spellbreaker, did you?” “N … Yes, somehow I did.” “Yikes!” She playfully pouted. “What? Just a week ago I thought you were dead!” “That explains why Demiurge faced me with murderous intentions.” “Did you expect something else? Why didn’t you let us know?” “I wanted to, really. But the docs didn’t even let my remotely reach a computer. Their mindless blabbering about how I should think about myself and need to recover so I could leave the hospital is still ringing in my ears.” Ultimately confused Naberal looked from Ainz to Marlianken and switched back. Her mind couldn’t process what was happening right in front of her. “You alright Naberal? You look shell-shocked.” Being directly addressed by Marlianken only made it worse. “Please forgive me for my insolence Lady Marlianken. I can’t understand how it is possible for you to be alive and here.” “Lady?” Behind Naberal Ain shook his head and shrugged simultaneously. “Well … the whole thing is a little complicated and would take a lot time to explain. In short, I wasn’t able to contact the others for a very long time, leading them to believe I was dead.” That only covered a very small fraction of the truth but it had to be enough for now. Luckily it seemed to satisfy Naberals curiosity. “Is there a chance, that you made a pained grimace back upstairs?” The look on Marliankens face spoke volumes. “I wonder what brings you to this conclusion.” She rolled her eyes. “Yuris report I guess. Can’t believe he managed to hit you. Was it really just once?” “Yup. And that hit was a nasty one.” She padded the left side of her stomach. “That damn wound re-teared open 2 times in 4 days.” Ainz couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re honestly telling me that you didn’t use a potion?” “Yeah I’m totally wasting my already short amount of supplies for wounds that could be perfectly treated without. At least that stupid first aid course was of use for once.” “Touché.” Her gaze turned sceptical. “And you didn’t really crawl into that black amour, right?” Ainz scratched his chin and released the magic he had used to create the amour. Not the least bit puzzled by his appearance she only slightly raised an eyebrow. “Like I thought.”

While Ainz and Marlianken were talking, Naberal looked around. This cavern was filled with shelf over shelf, stuffed to their breaking point with scrolls, books, maps and more of the likes. Slowly she realized why lady Marlianken had lead them here. Depending on the information stored down here, this archive would be incredible valuable to Nazarick. Still with the Lantern in her hand, she lighted one of the closer shelfs. Though she couldn’t read the writing of this world, the state of the paper told her that this archive was at least a hundred years old. Knowing the value of this treasure and not only locating it, but rather leading lord Ainz directly to it, was a sign of lady Marliankens loyalty towards Nazarick. At least in Naberals book. Further doubts were no longer at issue, especially since the two supreme beings were having a casual conversation. No imposter could know that much about the creators and their world, let alone how lady Marlianken would act outside of situations that required cover. There was no mistaking her, she wasn’t an illusion. The first time in days, a smile flashed over Naberals features.

“So you lead me here in order to let me see this knowledge treasure with my own eyes?” Naberal strained her ears. Not to eavesdrop, but to be able to guess lord Ainzs possible next orders. “Exactly. Though I wouldn't call it a knowledge treasure per se. If we are unlucky, then there was only needless stuff stored down here, at least from a strategic perspective.” “Isn’t any information of value to you?” Marlianken showed a smile that contained honest self-criticism. “Well it does. I’m still a historian by heart.” She chuckled. “Obsessed with absolute accuracy … that sideswipe against yourself couldn’t have nailed it better.” Marlianken just shrugged. “Maybe we should head back upstairs? To your oh so unwilling to wait monster hamster? If she rouses up the troops you surely have on standby, they might stumble down here and destroy something valuable in the end.” To Marliankens grin, Ainz answered with a hearty laugh. “Yeah, that would definitely be better.” As if she had waited for a sign, Naberal hurried back to the entrance, stopped there and lighted the path back up, bowing to them in the process. In this pose she remained like she was a stature. This behaviour made Marlianken feel uncomfortable, but to her questioning look Ainz just answered with a shrug and went ahead. She followed, tough it gave her an odd feeling.

 

 

“Master you’ve returned! I’m so happy, that I am.” Hamsukes relieved welcome already reached Ainz before he had reached the surface. “Lord Ainz? We already thought something had happened und were preparing to storm the archive.” Aura appeared in the opening of the stairways and looked puzzled at him. “What about this impostor? Did you beat him? Did he act alone or was it a group? Did you… “ “Slow down, calm yourself Aura.” Interrupting her seemed rude to him, but he wanted to stop her questioning before Marlianken could hear them. That he had thought this whole archive thing was a trap and she an impostor, was pretty embarrassing. At least skeletons couldn’t blush. He ended his ascend and looked at the little dark elf, she just looked even more puzzled. The surrounding area was flooded not only with hear beasts but a shitload of minions too. All ready to attack. “To answer all your questions at once, it wasn’t a trap, at least not in the classical sense.” He made a few steps out and behind him the blond succubus appeared out of the darkness, causing Auras eyes to widen in shock. “Lady Marlianken?” Again Marlianken reacted with confusion to someone being astonished by her still being alive. “I thought Demiurge and Yuri had reported about meeting me.” “We all thought someone had managed to trick them.” Auras cheeks and ears turned beet red. And again Ainz only answered with a shrug to Marliankens questioning gaze. He himself had been more and more convinced that someone had managed to trick them, at least until he witnessed a Spellbreaker in action. Having reached the surface as well, Marlianken looked around. “Nice welcoming committee, very flattering.” Sarcasm oozed out of her dark voice. It made Ainz cough in embarrassment. Aura was still standing there with beet red cheeks and ears, looking like a kid waiting for its parents to scold it, perfectly knowing it had done something wrong. At first Marlianken had no clue how to respond to Auras behaviour, she decided to do what came natural. So she got down on her knees in front of Aura and ruffled through the dark elf’s hair. “There is no reason to be ashamed Aura. If I had been in this situation, I would have questioned the whole thing too.” Relieved that she wasn’t scolded, a few tears rolled down her face. Marlianken didn’t know how to place this reaction, but she remained calm. “There, there. There is no need to cry, everything is okay.” “But Lady Marlianken …” Aura hiccupped “ … if we had believed Demiurge and Yuri, we would have found you sooner.” She hiccupped again. Comforting children wasn’t really one of Marliankens strong points, none the less she tried her best. “Being careful and thereby protecting Nazarick is a guardian’s duty after all. That it backfired this time isn’t so bad.” It indeed seemed to calm Aura. She tried to wipe away her tears, only to smear them all over her face. “Thank you Lady Marlianken.” The only proper answer Marlianken could think of was a warm, almost motherly smile. “Now that this is settled, shall we leave?” Ainz had calmly observed the scenery. Seeing how his long-time friend acted completely calm and almost familiar towards Aura and Naberal, made him happy. If she would get along with the rest of Nazaricks residents as good as she just did with these two, it would make him even happier. “I’d love to. Can’t wait to find out what other reactions are waiting for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a sucker for making characters suffer. Next up is the grand return to Nazarick, let's see how it goes ;)


	5. Doubts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shitload of conversation ahead, don't say I didn't warn you :3

“IT’S UNBELIEVABLE, LADY MARLIANKEN IS INDEED ALIVE.”

“Like I told you. But everyone rather believed I had gone crazy.” Annoyed, Demiurge readjusted his glasses. Within the last couple of days he had heard from every ankle possible, that he had lost his mind. Seeing their doubts confuted was like balm to his ego. Unfortunately there were still people having doubts, namely Albedo and Shalltear.

“YOU’LL HAVE TO ADMITT THAT IT SOUNDED ABSURD. NEVERTHELESS I AM SORRY TO HAVE DOUBTED YOU.” Cocytus exhaled an icy cloud.

“Why does everyone suddenly believe that this isn’t an impostor? It’s still suspicious to me.” Shalltear didn’t even tried to hide her jealousy. She crossed her arms under her breasts, an untypical gesture for her. “That’s for sure, I only will believe that it is really Lady Marlianken after I see proof.”

“Your disbelieve doesn’t arise from your lowered chances to reach some kind of relationship with Lord Ainz?” Feeling caught, Shalltear pouted, only leading Demiurge to grin in amusement.

“Well .. ähm … since Lady Marlianken is back now, doesn’t this mean that she’ll be ruling alongside Lord Ainz now?”

“I dare to doubt it.” Everyone present just looked puzzled at Demiurges declaration, causing him to sigh. “Lady Marlianken never was a full part of the guild, as to her own wishes. It would indeed be fitting to call her the unofficial number 42. As far as I know she even isn’t in possession of a regular guild ring. She possesses a variation, not providing all options the original one does. If I recall right, it was made specifically for her. Summarizing all this information leads me to believe that she has no interest in ruling.”

With an uneasy feeling, Mare looked at his own ring. That one of the supreme beings had a more restricted access to Nazarick than he had, made him question again if it had been right to accept it. It now felt even more like that wasn’t the case. True, this ring was his greatest treasure, but with the knowledge he now had, it felt terribly wrong to possess it. Due to his uneasiness he started to shiver. Though it didn’t go unnoticed, nobody seemed it fit to comment it.

“What is so damn special about this woman?” Again Shalltear made her jealousy no secret. “She didn’t create anybody and had been more absent as far as I know.”

Demiurge showed a smug grin. “She may have not created anybody, but a lot of the customized magic items entrusted to us guardians were made by her. Her specialties were items disguised as cosmetic accessories, if I recall right.”

“CAN YOU NAME SOME EXAMPLES?”

“Of course. I can say with absolute certainty that she created my earrings.” He now had their full attention. “If I didn’t misunderstand the conversation she and Lord Ulbert had about it, then these earrings are an exact copy of her own, as well in looks as in containing abilities.” He seemed to think for a moment. “I think Albedos necklace as well as those of Aura and Mare are made by her too.”

“YOU SEEM TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT HER. DO YOU KNOW WHY SHE WAS PRESUMED DEAD TOO?”

“I’m terribly sorry, this beyond my knowledge.”

Not the answer Cocytus had hoped for. Under normal circumstances Demiurge knew pretty much everything that was happening around Nazarick and he knew much more about their creators than the other guardians. Why he knew it was his well-kept secret though. The only explanation that didn’t seemed absurd was that Lord Ulbert had gifted him with this knowledge. On the other hand it had been absurd to believe Lady Marlianken was still alive. Maybe he had to reconsider his evaluation.

“I’m really interested in where you got all that knowledge about our creators from. I can’t believe you simply just overheard all of it.” Shalltear twisted her face in disbelieve. Much to her annoyance, Demiurge just smiled. If he had answered, his answer would have been drowned in the sound of someone opening the door rough enough to nearly tear it from its hinges anyway. Nobody was surprised that Albedo entered the room, followed be a visibly intimidated Aura. It was also pretty clear why Aura looked intimidated. Though Albedo was smiling her usual gentle smile, it was graspable how her anger was boiling beneath it, only resulting in making it seem creepy.

“You’re coming alone?”

“Lord Ainz wishes to speak with Lady Marlianken in private.” It was a miracle how Albedo managed not to grind her teeth. She crossed the room unusually fast and took seat alongside the others, still smiling her creepy smile. Aura on the other hand crossed the room as silent as possible and took seat next to her brother. Albedo looked at Demiurge, who had no clue how to place her behaviour, as usual. “As if it wasn’t enough that you fell for this illusion, now this woman also managed to trick Lord Ainz as well.” Her smile vanished and was replaced by an icy glare. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

“Are you sure you aren’t just jealous?”

Albedos glare went even icier. “Not falling for the tricks of another succubus makes me jealous? Don’t be ridiculous!”

It was a given that she was jealous. Denying it didn’t made it any less true. Nobody knew how to respond, expect Shalltear. “She’s absolutely right. Believing that Lady Marlianken is alive is running after a daydream. Anyone really believing that this woman is her must have gone crazy.” She made a devaluing gesture, throwing her hands up.

“ARE YOU TWO EVEN AWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?”

“Of course!” The answer was given simultaneous, but Albedo continued.  “As it seems, an incredibly powerful illusionist has managed to trick everyone and except for Shalltear and me nobody is seeing through this charade.”

No answer. They simply couldn’t believe that these two seriously doubted a supreme. Lady Marlianken not being an official member of this circle didn’t change the fact that she was one of them. Disbelieving looks were exchanged, while the doubting two still grumbled. “Ä ähm … I … think you’re doing her injustice.” The hostile looks directed at Mare made him quiver and he shut up.

“Unbelievable! It seems like expect for the two of us nobody is able to see through this second-rate theatre. Did daydreaming become infectious lately?” Shalltear huffed devaluing.

“Seems like it. To wish for Lady Marlianken to be alive isn’t reprehensible, but getting tricked because of it is just low.” Albedos tone rubbed everyone the wrong way, especially Demiurge.

“Did the two of you lose your minds? It was one thing to doubt her being alive while there was no other proof than Yuris and my word, but still doubting after you have seen her is definitely going way too far.”

“HE IS RIGHT! WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS BLASPHEMOUS!”

“Blasphemous you say? I wouldn’t call not falling for an impostor that.” Albedo waved off to further emphasize her statement.

Convincing both disbelievers didn’t seem possible, at least not at the moment. Annoyed to no end, Demiurge pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to convince himself, that they didn’t meant it the way they said it. But if he was completely honest with himself, this had been predictable, much to his sorrow. Stopping it seemed to fall under his duties. Having made his decision, he stood up and walked towards the door.

“Mind telling me where you intend to go?” The icy tone perfectly matched Albedos disapproving glare.

“Since you’re both deaf to reason,” Both addressed ones frowned, “I’ll be taking the liberty to disprove your doubts.” Since he had no intensions in waiting for a possible veto or even answering one, he just left the room afterwards.

 

 

Shooing everyone out of the room took a lot of convincing from Ainz or more precisely authoritative bearing. He was sure, that he had never acted this brisk towards the NPCs always swarming around him. It wasn’t surprising, that Albedos protests stood out. Her possessive behaviour was more and more proving itself as a problem. However, he had managed to convince them to leave, though by using mild force. Sighing he took seat vis-á-vis to Marlianken. She flashed him an amused grin.

“Not a single word.”

“Did you hear me say anything?” Her grin grew even wider.

“No need to. I can read that thought on your face.”

“Seems like you’re having fun playing the grand ruler.”

“Not really.” If possible, Ainz would have rolled his eyes. “You’ve seen yourself what it’s like around here. The NPCs believe we’re some kind of gods. Not disappointing them is far from easy.”

“You’ve always been a people pleaser.”

“And that coming from you of all people. Who of the two of us almost committed suicide?”

Anger flashed over Marliankens features for a second, but to Ainz astonishment she just sighed. “I deserved that one, I guess.”

“What brought you to your senses?”

“Lose a whole year of your life and you’re suddenly seeing things from a different perspective.” Her gaze was sad and seemed unfocused. Suddenly he regretted his snappy comment. It didn’t took long for her amused grin to return. “Alright spill it! What did you do since you came to this world?”

“Well nothing you don’t already know about. Your researches about my activities outside of Nazarick were more than thoroughly.”

She made a grumpy face. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I wanted to know what you did here, inside Nazarick. Must have been something big or is Albedo lusting after you for kicks?”

“Ah … well … you know … really stupid story …” Ainz was sure that this was how a mouse cornered by a cat felt. Of course she didn’t miss his uneasiness. She knew him too long and too well.

“What did you do?” Her sceptical look made him feel even more cornered.

“Well … that’s really, really stupid … and I’m sure you’ll think so too … where do I start best?”

She raised an eyebrow and her look grew even more sceptical. “Satoru … what … did … you …do?” The way she laid emphasis on every single word caused his blood to freeze, metaphorically.

“I … changed a tiny detail in her Bio before the supposed shutdown.” Now he felt completely cornered, especially because her gaze shoved a ‘you fucking serious’ into his face. “If I had the slightest clue that I would end up stuck in my avatar and the NPCs coming to life, I wouldn’t have done it, I swear.”

She buried her face in her hands and made an annoyed groan. As her gazed turned back in his direction, it contained a mix of disappointment and pity. “If Tabula lives in this world and finds out about this, he’s gonna kill you for good. You know that right?”

“Remembering it every day, trust me.”

“Oh boy …” She leaned back and looked up to the ceiling, ran her right hand through her hair and pulled some loose blond locks out of her face. “And what are you going to do about it? Or rather what did you do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you somehow react to her feelings?”

“Well … no? After all I manipulated her feelings. That wouldn’t be right.”

Again he earned her ‘you fucking serious’ gaze. “You’re honestly telling me, that you manipulated Tabulas favourite NPC in a whim and now you don’t have the guts to deal with the consequences?” He swallowed hard. In case he would ever meet other members of the guild, he had already readied himself to get a verbal beat-down. Yet Marliankens accusing and simultaneously disappointed gaze was much worse. It made him feel like a little kid with disappointed parents. She had always had that effect on him.

“Seems like I fucked up, right?” He rubbed his neck in shame.

“Such an early discovery. And all you needed was a big kick in your skeleton ass. Really, a phenomenal show.” Sarcasm was the last thing he needed right now.

“Then tell me what you think I should have done!” Desperation lay in his voice.

“How about taking responsibility for your oh so tiny modification? You gave her those feelings. Dropping her like a hot stone is a real dick move.” And she was right again. Ainz was well aware that not responding on Albedos approaches wasn’t fair, but hearing it from someone else made him feel even guiltier. Marlianken sighed again. “Doesn’t matter anymore, there’s no way to change the past. And fending of a succubus is no easy feat.” She pulled her hair back again. “You’re a grown man, you should know what you do. I guess Peroronchinos little vampire brats wants to get into your pants as well?” He just nodded. “Damn you never got popcorn when you need it. At least you’re avoiding unnecessary conflict this way. Though …” She looked questioning at him. “Peroronchino didn’t manage to infect you with his lolicon fetish, did he?”

His jaw dropped. “Are you crazy? He might have tried to do it, but never succeeded. “

“That’s a relief.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “That means Shalltear wasn’t even a candidate to begin with.”

“Candidate? Satzuki … I don’t think I like to where your thoughts are going.”

“What? Posing as the big ruler but not choosing a queen? You know that a ruler is expected to have descendants? Preferably male?”

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nope. No matter the civilization or epoch, a ruler without descendants is more likely becoming the victim of coup attempts. No heir means no one with legal claim. This results in people being more willing to try their luck at a coup.” Despite this rather unsettling statement, she looked bored.

This time Ainz hid his face in his hands and groaned. “Can’t you keep your historical knowledge to yourself for just once?”

“So you can complain that I didn’t warn you? Not happening! Besides, the sooner you got the information the sooner you can come up with methods to deal with it. And since you’re not interested in taking responsibility for your changes on Albedos Bio, you’re gonna need to think about it sooner or later anyway.”

“Do you really think the NPCs would rebel?”

“The NPCs? No. Anyone from outside Nazarick you’re trying to include? Most probably, if not certainly.” She pulled her hair out of her face again.

Not the kind of prospects Ainz liked. Being warned didn’t help. Only thinking about how hard it would be to talk the NPCs, most certainly the guardians ahead, out of a bloody counterinsurgency made him feel sick. Marliankens easy and distant dealing with such themes was most certainly due to her profession, but in his opinion her attitude wasn’t the least bit fitting. After all she was now a part of all this and it seemed like it didn't bothered her at all. It came back to his mind, that she was never really concerned about her own well-being. That also explained why she wasn’t the least bit bothered by the wound on her stomach.

“What about your wound? Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Now look who is trying to change the subject. And to answer your question, no it doesn’t. As long as I keep away from fights, it should heal on its own.” She grinned and padded the spot.

“I’d much rather have Pestonya heal it. You said yourself that it had already reopened twice. I don’t need a panic spreading here just because it reopens a third time.”

She sighed annoyed. “If you insist.”

Ainz stood up and headed for the door. He opened it and looked both ways down the hallway. Before he had even spotted the maid, she hurried over to him. “Lord Ainz, how may I serve you?”

“Search for Pestonya and tell her to come to my quarters.”

The maid just bowed and hurried away. Amused by her over eagerness he started to laugh. Marliankens voice brought him back.

“Mind telling me what’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head still laughing, while he shut the door. “I just can’t help it whenever I see with how much enthusiasm the children of our friends carrying out their duties.”

“Children?” She looked a little puzzled but then understanding flashed across her face. “Oh … that explains a lot.”

Never had Ainz wished for the ability to show emotions on his face to be back. “What does it explain?” He took seat again.

“For example why you don’t react to Albedos desperate flirting despite knowing it’s a dick move.”

“Why don’t you just shove it into my face a little more?”

“That a challenge?”

“No, damn it!” He ran a hand over his face. Yes he had missed her, but why couldn’t she just lose that snappishness? “Don’t you see the NPCs as the children of our friends?”

“Not really. If had been here from the very beginning, who knows? Maybe I’m just living to long in this world to share your view.” She shrugged.

“And how do you see them?”

She thought about it for a moment. “As individuals, who were lucky enough to miss out on a shitty childhood and youth, I guess. It’s possible that I’ll be changing my mind, but right now it’s the most fitting summary.”

He had no clue how to answer. Somehow she was right, but somehow not. **_Huh … never seen even tried to see it this way._** To him, the NPCs had always been the children of his friends. He had never even considered a different view. Right now this wasn’t high on his list of relevant stuff. After all they now had more than enough time to discuss such matters to no end. There was another question that was more important right now. “How long are you actually living in this world?”

“Is that of any importance?”

“You said yourself it’s too long, spill it.”

Sighing Marlianken shook her head, but someone knocking on the door rescued her. At least it felt like being rescued to her. To Ainz permission to enter the door opened and Pestonya came in. The dog headed homunculus bowed. “At your service, Lord Ainz. How may I serve you?”

Ainz pointed to Marlianken. “The wound on her stomach hasn’t healed yet. Please do her the favour.”

“As you wish.” Pestonya bowed again. “Please excuse me Lady Marlianken, may I have a closer look at you wound first?”

“Sure, no problem.” Without saying anything further, Marlianken lifted up her shirt. Below was a bandage with a slightly darkened spot on the left. Carefully Pestonya removed the bandage and the pad over the wound. 4 lines encrusted with blood came to light. Ainz inhaled sharply. The wound really looked nasty and painful.

“Your wound care is flawless, as expected.” Something that bore remote resemblance to a smile flashed over Pestonyas doglike features.

“Thank you? … Without access to healing magic the only other option would have been a potion. I didn’t wanted to waste one on something this small.”

“I admire your circumspection.” I looked like Pestonya was sniffing for something. “No inflammation … the wound is perfectly clean and according to the alcoholic scent you disinfected it as well.”

“Exactly.”

Again it looked like Pestonya smiled. She placed her hand over the wound and Marlianken felt how her wound closed itself within seconds. It itched like hell, but she suppressed the urge to scratch herself. As Pestonya lifted her hand from the spot, there were 4 thin red lines remaining instead of the blood encrusted ones. “My apologies, since the wound had already started to heal naturally, I was unable to prevent scaring.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind.” To Pestonyas startled look, Marlianken answered with a warm smile. “Scars pale after some time. Besides they remind me of something important. Thank you Pestonya.”

“If you see it this way.” She bowed again, though she felt insecure about it. Every woman would see this scars as disfiguring. That Lady Marlianken wasn’t sharing this view surprised the homunculi. Though it only further proofed her impression, that the supreme beings were above such things.

“Thank you, this was all I needed.” Ainz couldn’t wait to bombard Marlianken with more questions, but Pestonya didn’t dismissed herself. “Please excuse me Lord Ainz. It seems like mistress Albedo and mistress Shalltear were confused by Lady Marliankens return. They seemingly still doubt that we are dealing with an impostor.” Marlianken and Ainz exchanged doubted looks. Both of them were unable to believe what they just had heard. Contrary to Marlianken, Ainz composed himself pretty quick. “Then I should disprove their doubts myself. You’re coming with me Marli?” “I’ll doubt there is any other option.” Again she shrugged, but this time she also flashed a smug grin.


	6. Jealousy vs. Reason

Resolving all doubts about Marlianken seemed to be pretty easy. All Ainz needed to do was declare that he was 100% sure about it and the whole thing would be over. Much to his sorrow, theory and practical experience shouldn’t match, as usual.

He had called all high-ranking NPCs to the throne room. While he took seat on the throne, Marlianken stood of to the side and was not even remotely close to the throne podium, as to her own wish. Though he had been against it, he respected her wish, especially since she had justified her wish with the fact that she was ‘only’ a permanent ally and not a full member. Although he and the other members of the guild had just made up that title to invalidate her excuses for not joining. It had already felt like she was one of them, even a kingpin. Measured by the amount of time, materials and ingame money she had spent to build up and run Nazarick, she was a full member anyway.  ‘Nazarick’s Guillotine’, that was how Ulbert had called her sometimes, perfectly knowing how much she hated it. The mocking title ‘glass canon’ was even worse to her, but it did fit her perfectly to be honest.

The tension was more than graspable. Both Albedo and Shalltear had cast an icy glance in Marliankens direction before they took their respective places. More than a few were startled. The area guardians in particular seemed to be thrown of the rails by her presence. Though Ainz was sure it was due to her standing on one level with them and not next to him. Marlianken herself looked like she felt out of place. She smiled friendly whenever someone was looking at her, but as soon as she felt unobserved her gaze changed to worried and she bit down on her lip-piercing and started to shift the thin metal ring back and forth nervously.

**_Shit, I forgot that she hated to be in the spotlight._** How he could have forgotten this detail was a mystery to him. There was no way he could change it now, but he could at least make sure that is was over as soon as possible. As every NPC had taken their respective places, they kneeled in front of him in unison. No matter how many times he saw this choreography, it was always stunning how they managed to be this synchronic. If he was reading Marliankens stunned-startled gaze right, she must have felt the same. Using his ruler-tone he addressed everyone present. “Thank you for dropping everything to gather here as fast as possible.”

“Whenever you call for us, we’ll be there immediately my lord.” As usual, Albedo acted as speaker.

“I’m sure you all already heard that Marlianken is alive. Your reactions tell me, that a lot among you were more than surprised.” He made a pause on purpose and used it to ask Marlianken to come over with an inviting gesture. She complied with his request. Though it was completely new to him, how calm and elegant she looked. **_Maybe this is due to her living as an elder succubus for so long. In the past she almost had a nervous breakdown every time she was in the spotlight._** He stored the thought away, adding it to his ‘ask her later’-list. “Her presence won’t change anything on the status quo though.” A murmur went through the ranks of the NPCs. Ainz implied to Marlianken that she should explain it herself. She took a deep breath. “I’ve no intention to disturb anything around here. As long as I’m not asked to do otherwise, I’ll be staying out of everything.” The calm tone she used lead Ainz to believe that she had managed to somehow cure her jitters.

“Thank you Marlianken. With this, everything important is said. Expect the floor guardians, everyone is allowed to leave and head back to work.” Silent, though obedient the NPCs followed his order. Not even 5 Minutes later the throne room was emptied. With the sound of the closing door, Ainz raised his voice again. “Very well … Albedo! Shalltear!” Both addressed ones jerked and looked up at him. “I received report about the two of you still having doubts about Marlianken being alive and back. I want to know why you assume such things.”

“My Lord you said yourself that it is possible for us to encounter powerful enemies. We are only concerned about your security.”

If Ainz had still been able to, he would have raised an eyebrow. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Marlianken doing it. There was no secure way to tell if they were lying or not, put the possibility of their concerns being caused by jealousy was very high. Much to his surprise, Marlianken answered them.

“Pretty good point.” Shaken glances were directed at her. “Assuming that there is no one out there able to at least keep up with Nazarick is more than naïve.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course, caution should always take priority in this crazy world.” The shaken glances changed to confusion. “Luckily there is a method to ensure your security and clam their concerns, at least as far as I’m involved.” She reached into space and hauled a rose-gold shimmering necklace with a pail red stone in its centre out. Shadows were wavering around its clasp. Every gaze was practically glued to the item in her hand. Ainz had no clue if the guardians knew what she was holding up, he definitively did.

“Were the hell did you get a control necklace for dragons from?” With his question, the eyes of the guardians widened. It seemed like they at least knew how rare this item was.

“Found it while I was hunting for materials for your item orders.” Grinning she continued. “If you’re the one wrapping this thing around my neck, then it will be impossible for me to do you any harm. You could also seal my skills and spells to your liking. Should suffice as reassurance, right?” She looked at the two disbelieving ones. They looked like the proverbial deer in headlights.

“Little too drastic, if you ask me.” She shrugged and thrusted the necklace into his hand. He let the thin chain glide through his fingers, while he considered the offered solution. “Isn’t there another method?”

“None working this fast.”

It caused Ainz to feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately she was right. This solution was fast, efficient and to top it off fool proof. All good reasons, still he didn’t like it. **_I just can’t get her under my thumb to shut these two up. That’s going too far._** Under normal circumstances he was more or less able to rely on Demiurge rescuing him. This time he could wait for said rescue until he would drop dead. Primarily due to Demiurge seemingly being as shocked as he was, since he was staring horrified at the necklace in Ainzs hand. **_Shit. What should I do now?_**

“My Lord if this necklace really has this effect and since she is offering it herself, there should be nothing contradicting to choose this solution.” He should have expected such a statement by Albedo, but he didn’t. Therefor he was more than shocked by it. The shock of the guardians seemed to reach even deeper. Demiurges gaze clearly asked ‘Have you completely lost it?’, Mare looked like he was about to cry, Aura was a mix of these two and Ainz had no clue how to read Cocytus. Only Shalltear seemed to agree. If he had been alone, Ainz would have screamed or thrown his hands up in despair. Thinking about it in silence was so much harder than usual and he couldn’t delay his decision to no end. Basically he hated the way of the least resistance, because to 90% it blew up in his face afterwards. This time it felt like he had no other choice. Simply destroying the necklace and stating that doubting her meant doubting him was very tempting, however it didn’t seem fitting. After all he still was the ruler of Nazarick.

“Can’t think of something better right now, seems like we have to use the solution at hand.” Annoyed, Ainz stared at the necklace in his hand. The second he found a better solution for this hated jealousy problem, he would free her from this damn thing. While Albedo and Shalltear looked relieved, even triumphant, the other guardians looked like their world had been shattered. Giving in to these jealousy outbreaks didn’t seem reasonable. To cap it all off, Marlianken herself had suggested this solution. How a supreme being could in all seriousness sacrifice her own freedom to shut these two up was incomprehensible for them. Yet nobody dared to object. More than ever since Lord Ainz had sentenced Demiurge to let his injured rips heal naturally.

No matter how much Demiurge wanted to say something himself, he didn’t dare to. Being on the receiving end of Lord Ainzs anger for once was already bad enough. Lady Marliankens reaction was still impending and he had no clue what she might do. If in doubt, he’ll just infuriate her more, not a risk he was willing to take. He didn’t even dare to hope for her to show mercy, it felt like he didn’t deserve it anyway. For those reasons he was forced to watch in silence how Lady Marlianken lifted up her hair, turned her back to Lord Ainz and he wrapped the necklace around her neck. The clasp closed, the wavering shadows disappeared and the red stone in the middle came to life, illuminating the whole throne room for a split second. Then the stone only showed a weekly pulsing light in its centre. Lady Marlianken let her hair fall back down and turned to face the guardians again. To top it all she smiled.

“Since this is now taken care of, get up.” Everyone obeyed. “Anything else that needs my immediate attention?”

“Please do excuse me my Lord” The thought of instantly attacking Albedo to put her jealous demeanour to an end raced through Demiurges mind. The way Cocytus’ hold around his weapon tightened he must have thought the same. “how should we know if the necklace is really working the way it should?”

“How? … What? Isn’t it already enough?” Ainzs mood darkened audibly.

“I, no we are just concerned about your security.” Shalltear nodded in agreement.

“Alright, do you have any suggestions?” This whole thing was more than Ainz was ready to cope with, but since he had already given in to this point, it became hard to believably block.

Albedo was smiling her usual mild smile, but it looked plastic. “Lady Marlianken, you as an elder succubus are able to control any man if you wish to, right? If you would demonstrate this ability and it shows no effect on Lord Ainz, it would be an adequate proof.”

The horrified look on Marliankens face only reinforced Albedos and Shalltears jealousy. “What? But you’re feeling alright? You want me to humiliate someone so you get proof about this thing around my neck working? Not Happening!”

“Aren’t you able to?”

“Doesn’t matter, I won’t do it.” Marliankens look went from horrified to icy, starting a duel of looks between her and Albedo. None was ready to give up. Freezing cold against triumphant jealousy. The room temperature seemed to drop by a few degrees.

“Enough of this Idiocy.” Ainz rubbed his forehead, this fuss rapidly became ridiculous. “Marli … for the sake of peace and quiet … just do it.”

There was hardly any way Marliankens look could have asked Ainz more about his sanity. “Are you kidding me? Like hell I would! I’d rather shift for myself than humiliating anyone!” This was definitively speaking for her character, but it wasn’t resolving the situation. On the contrary, Albedo and Shalltear openly showed how much they felt confirmed in their jealousy, though wordless.

“Marli, just see it as a final invalidation of their doubts.”

It didn’t looked like she was convinced, not even a little. “Damn it, I said no!” Her wings opened threatening and the stone around her neck flashed.

“Marli …” Ainz wasn’t even able to finish his sentence, before Marlianken started to move and headed towards the doors. “Hey! Do you really want to be on your own again?”

“That’s right!” She didn’t even deem it necessary to turn around.

Ainz sighed, it contained endless sorrow. “Satzuki …” The guardians looked at each other, puzzled. No one had ever heard this name. It didn’t defeat its purpose though. She stopped and turned around, however her gaze could have killed someone.

“Don’t you even dare to try it this way Satoru.” Again puzzled looks were exchanged. They had never heard this name either. “Besides, the sad puppy look isn’t working with that skeleton head of yours.”

“Please think about it again.”

“There is nothing to think about! I’m staying by my word, I won’t humiliate anyone … especially not to proof anything to those two jealous bitches of yours.” If looks could kill, she would have already murdered Albedo and Shalltear over a hundred times by now. It became noticeably colder around her. If one looked closely, they could see thin ghost spheres circling around her. Or maybe it was just Demiurge seeing them, after all one of his earrings enabled him to see magic traces. If one of those doubting two would say a wrong word, Marlianken would shut them up with a Soul Strike, he was sure of it. More to defuse the situation than out of conviction he brought himself to say something.

“My apologies for intervening, but I would volunteer for such a demonstration.”

“Self-sacrifice out of feeling guilty doesn’t count.”

He had never been caught this quick and had no clue how she knew, that he had only brought himself to say something in the first place because he felt guilty. Bluffing further was an option, but not a good one, therefore he looked bashfully to the ground. At least he had tried.

“Listen, there are two variations of this control-thing right? Wasn’t one of them harmless compared to the other one?” Ainz rubbed his forehead again. This situation was getting on his nerves, in more than one way.

“Well that’s right, but …”

“No but … I had enough of this complete farce!” He tried to think of a solution, acceptable for both sides. “Why don’t make it a competition? We gather all male level 100 NPCs here and the last one standing wins.”

“Competition? Still feeling sane apart from that? What the hell should even be the price for this?”

“Good question … we can still decide on it later. Right now the only important thing is for this rubbish to be over. This whole thing is becoming more and more embarrassing.”

Metaphorically spoken, Marliankens face shattered to pieces like her illusions tended to. How someone could honestly have such a stupid idea was beyond comprehension to her. There was nothing to win here, at least she couldn’t think of something. Sure it looked like it was to her advantage, but it didn’t felt like it. She wasn’t ready to abandon her principles, just to disprove Albedos and Shalltears doubts. **_It was so much easier while I was on my own... Why do they have to bitch about this so much? What’s their damn problem?_** Actually it was rare for Marlianken to get along with other women. Her mind just resigned. “You’re not letting me out of this, are you?” Just saying it out loud was enough to make her guts turn.

“I’d rather prefer this wouldn’t be necessary too, but I don’t think it’s possible.” Looking angrily at someone was somewhat impossible without eyes. Nonetheless Albedo and Shalltear seemed to feel his displeasure, the posture of both stiffened visibly. “Albedo call Sebas and Pandora’s Actor over. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> took a while but it's done :D  
> see you guys on the next chapter ;)


	7. Proof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Alan975 for suggesting a better speach pattern for 'best blue boy' ;)

Saying that none of those involved had absolutely no enthusiasm in participating in the display of Marliankens skills was quiet the understatement. Whereas it would have fitted perfectly to say they rather wanted to see Albedo and Shalltear in disciplinary confinement. Admittedly it was obvious why Lord Ainz had decided against it, it didn’t change that it felt very wrong to give in to their jealous complaints though. At least Ainz had agreed to leave Mare out, due to his age. Especially Marlianken wasn’t the least bit enthusiastic about this whole thing, which was obvious to anyone paying attention. Though she was sitting in a relaxed manner on the stairs to the throne, legs crossed and leaned back, her gaze was cold enough to make even a blizzard seem warm. Additionally this gaze was directed at Albedo and Shalltear, who were standing offside partly smirking, partly pouting.

Once again Marlianken took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s get this over with. Please do everything in your power to resist.” She activated the special controlling aura of succubus demons. Suddenly the male NPCs felt how their bodies were overrun by the difficult to control compulsion to get down on their knees in front of her. Their minds stayed clear, but they knew that it was impossible to resist forever with sheer willpower alone. While their posture stiffened due to their struggle, Ainz sat on the throne, completely relaxed and seemingly bored.

For several minutes nothing happened, then Pandora’s Actor was the first one to fall. “Es tut mir unendlich leid. It was impossible for me to resist any longer.” Nobody made a comment.

Again nothing happened for several minutes and then Cocytus gave up. “Please. Do. Excuse. Me. I. Was. Unable. To. Resist. Any. Longer. The. Pressure. Was. To. Much.”

Ainz shifted a little in his seat. “It’s alright. I think I’m able to grasp how difficult this has to be.” For the third time they waited for a contender to fall, much longer than previously. Still it was visible how much effort it took and what means they used to withstand.

Sebas had balled his hands to fist, firm enough for them to shake slightly and it looked like his gloves where slowly stained red. Demiurge however must have bitten on his own lips, at least the beginning trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth indicated it. Both of them resisted very long and for a second it looked like they would give up simultaneously, but while Sebas got down, Demiurge was still standing. With a ‘winner’ finally being determined Marlianken deactivated the aura, relieved that it was over. The defeated ones got back up and everyone relaxed visibly.

As Marlianken was able to see the self-inflicted injuries of Sebas and Demiurge, she hissed. “Yikes … Those look really painful.” Sebas’ hands were really stained with his own blood while Demiurge had not only bitten himself, but had also rammed the spikes of his tail into his own ankles.

“In my understanding, doing everything in my power to resist included inflicting physical pain to myself to withstand longer.” A faint smile on his lips, Sebas bowed to her.

“I came to the same conclusion.” More grinning than smiling, Demiurge also bowed to her. The worried look on Marliankens face clearly showed that she was less than thrilled.  

 

From the side line Albedo and Shalltear observed the scene. At first they firmly believed to prevail, but with every man going down in front of Marlianken their faces went grumpier and their resentment grew. After the contest was settled, both of them had no clue how to place it. In fact, Marlianken had proven herself, albeit more than grudgingly. Surrender was still not an option though. Any further counteraction needed thorough planning, otherwise they would hold themselves up to ridicule. Neither of them wanted to leave the field to another woman, at least not without a fight and regardless of whether her being a supreme or not. Shalltear took the initiative.

“Lady Marlianken, I do need to apologize to you.” She made a few steps forward and bowed in front of Marlianken. “I allowed my feelings to cloud my judgment.” Sceptical looks were directed at her. “Your powers are more than impressive. Having seen what the more harmless variation is capable of really makes me curious about the capabilities of the more powerful one.”

Now Albedo understood what Shalltear had in mind and followed. “I do need to apologize too.” Smiling she repeated Shalltears actions, earning sceptical looks too. “It’s really amazing to witness what an elder succubus is capable of. My abilities are nothing to speak of in comparison.”

Marlianken leaned forward and reached for her upper knee. “I doubt that your abilities are nothing to speak of.” She remembered perfectly Tabula interrogating her about her racial skills and his rambling later on. These two were up to something, Marlianken had a feeling about it. But what was it? The thought made her feel uncomfortable. After they had already succeeded in forcing her to display her powers in such manner, it felt like there was a high chance of them succeeding in somehow forcing through some other nonsense.

“You’re to kind my Lady. I’m only able to indirectly control a man and my hold over the victim is nowhere near as powerful as yours. Controlling someone directly is unfortunately impossible for me. If there should someday be a chance to see direct control in action, I would be very grateful if you’d allow me to witness it.”

“The same goes for me. I’d really like to see such impressive powers with my own eyes too.”

Their ulterior motives were nearly tactile. Demanding more proof was more than presumptuous, everybody thought this way. “Albedo, Shalltear are you even aware what the two of you are saying?” Ainz had enough, his voice contained the hint of a threat. It was obvious that Marlianken was somehow disgusted by her own powers. Openly asking for her to display more of them was a punch in the guts. One that Marlianken seemingly was not willing to simply take. The way she suddenly stood up made it clear to him, how close she was to simply act on her anger. Unfortunately he was well aware of what she was capable of and had no interest in her demonstrating this. Ulbert hadn’t called her a Guillotine for nothing.

“We are simply asking to be allowed to witness her power if she ever uses it.” Both Shalltear and Albedo bowed their heads with a friendly smile on their faces. Nobody believed that this humility was real.

“Let me take a wild guess. You two would like it best to witness them immediately, am I right?” Marliankens voice contained a hint of a threat too.

“This would be a great honour, if it’s not bothering you of course.”

**_Oh it does bother me … keep cool girl … don’t get lost in anger._** Keeping her cool wasn’t easy, but her options were limited. Either she let her anger get the better of her and get this two the beating they obviously needed or she could keep herself in check and therefore be at risk to be forced to display this control version as well. Of course there was also the option to just leave and kiss Nazarick goodbye for good, but she wasn’t sure if she was able to stand the nagging loneliness again.

Gathering all her remaining resolve together, she walked the few steps down and stopped right in front of Albedo. Due to their height difference Albedo had to look up her, still smiling her usual smile. How fake this smile looked. “And do you have anybody whom I don’t need to worry about the side effects?”

“Marli wait. What side effects are you talking about? Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Thinking of possible side effects and the problems they might cause, made Ainz feel uneasy.

 She looked at him over her shoulder. “Because there are none as long as the mind stays clear. To control the mind too, you need to massively mess with the hormonal balance of your victim.” Again she turned to Albedo. “But you knew about this, right?”

“Something of this kind is indeed within my knowledge.”

“And this leads us back to our little problem. As long as you don’t conjure up someone, you won’t get the demonstration you want.” No matter how out of place it was at the moment, Marlianken couldn’t help but grin maliciously.

“Since it is such an honour to be controlled by you, there should be no problem to find volunteers.” Behind Albedos friendly smile, Marlianken was able to detect more than just a hint of spite.

“What kind of side effects are we even talking about?”

“That’s varying from case to case. Some feel almost nothing and others suddenly need to cope with the hormonal chaos of a sexually starved incubus. Though there seems to be a connection between the victims’ resistances and how severe things get.”

“Please do excuse me for interfering again. Is there any method to stem these effects if necessary?” Curiosity outweighed Demiurges restraint. If there was the possibility to stem those effects, he would end this fuss himself.

“It is possible to trick one’s mind with illusions. It might not resolve the problem and the affected one has more in common with vegetables than a breathing being while it lasts, but at least the victim won’t go crazy this way. The only other option is to act on it.”

“It’s possible to go crazy?” Again Ainz was scared of possible side effects.

“Only if one doesn’t immediately get appropriate help.”

The throne room fell into an oppressive silence. A demonstration of this power really was more than risky. The mere thought of possibly harming one of the guardians was enough for Marlianken to refuse and Ainz was already toying with the thought of simply sending the doubting two into confinement until their minds had calmed down.

“Lady Marlianken?” Demiurge got a puzzled look from her as she turned to him. “Are you able to use such illusionary spells?”

“Well I am, but I would need to monitor them constantly. Otherwise the mind might see through it and breaks out on its own.”

“I see.” Again more grinning than smiling, he slightly bowed to her, a hand over his heart. “Since it is possible to contain those effects, I’d like to volunteer.”

“As I already said, self-sacrifice out of feeling guilty doesn’t count.” Marlianken covered her eyes with one hand and sighed heavily.

“Please do consider granting my selfish wish as my price.” The horror about Demiurges proposition wasn’t just readable on Marliankens face.

“Ihre Warnungen zu ignorieren scheint nicht sonderlich klug zu sein.“ Everyone looked at Pandora’s Actor.

„Wirklich nett dass du versuchst mir zu helfen, doch ich fürchte mit Vernunft kommt man hier nicht weiter.“ They all turned to Marlianken. „Und nebenbei hat außer mir glaube ich keiner Verstanden was du gesagt hast.“

Pandora’s Actor hit his own forehead with his hand. “Verzeihung. Sometimes I don’t recognize it myself. As I just said, I don’t think it is wise to ignore her warnings.”

“He. Is. Right. This. Is. More. Than. Risky.”

“I am well aware of the risk I am about to take.” Demiurge slightly looked in the doubting two’s direction. Actually he wasn’t really thrilled about this whole thing, if it wasn’t for the nagging guilt he wouldn’t even consider doing it. He knew exactly where he had managed to hit her and if he had understood Naberals explanations right, than her wound hadn’t healed yet. Though he was able to understand why she hadn’t used a potion, knowing about this only made him feel guiltier.

“Are you absolutely sure? You don’t have to do this, really.”

That she was honestly concerned about his wellbeing made it even worse. And again he was thankful for the ability to hide his emotions. “I am sure.”

Marlianken sighed again and looked up to the ceiling. Had they all lost their sanity somehow? Suddenly she felt sick. **_Demiurge really does mean it. Please, please, please … don’t let this one backfire._** “All right … If you really want to do it, fine with me. It’ll be on your head though.”

“I sincerely thank you. I will again do everything within my power to resist.”

She slowly pulled her left glove of her hand, staring at it with a dark and disapproving glare. “Good luck with that. It won’t work!”

The short distance between them was closed by her with quick steps. With her left hand, she tapped on his forehead and at the same moment his facial expression went empty and his posture slackened.

“What? That’s it?” Completely dumbfounded, Shalltear took a few steps towards Demiurge.

“I know. Not really impressive, right?”

“So what’s up with him now?”

“His mind is taking a little nap. He is more like an empty hull right now.” Marlianken pulled her glove back on and stepped aside. Not only Shalltear came closer to have a look on how this control took effect on Demiurge.

Aura jumped up a few times to wave a hand in front of his face. “Man! … He’s not reacting at all.”

Cocytus tapped against Demiurges shoulder. “Indeed. … Truly. Impressive.”

Albedo was less convinced. “Are you sure he isn’t just acting?”

“Well, let’s test it!” Shalltear punched him on his arm. No reaction. “Huh … he is really gone.”

“It’s not like I just told you that he is.” Miffed, Marlianken grimaced. “Everybody done?”

Just to see for herself, Albedo poked the demon a few times. “Absolutely no reaction. Unbelievable.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. _Hey Demiurge … wake up._ ” Marliankens voice sounded oddly sweet. The second she addressed him in this odd tone he came back to his senses, his posture became normal, as well as his expression. To the many questioning looks, he reacted a little confused.

“Is something wrong?” He readjusted his glasses. “Wasn’t everyone standing somewhere else just now?” Though he rubbed over his arm, he chose to remain silent about it.

“Shalltear hit you to test if you weren’t just acting.” Especially because Shalltear had acted the way she did, Marlianken couldn’t help but tell him about it. A startled-miffed look from Shalltear was more than worth it.

“I see.” Without looking at Shalltear, he stopped.

Ainz came a little closer too. “How do you feel?” His worries were audible.

“I don’t feel anything unusual.”

“Glad to hear.”

“Side effects can still show up for about a week. Please immediately tell me if this happens, even if you just suspect something to be a side effect. Every try to deal with this on your own could make things worse.” Marliankens worries were audible too.

“I am thankful for your concerns about my well-being my lady. If something like this occurs, I will contact you immediately.” In fact it seemed to be a relief for her to hear it, she even showed a faint smile.

To get the attention of everybody present back, Ainz cleared his non-existent throat. “I suppose this matter is settled then?” No Answer, though Albedo and Shalltear were pouting while everyone else looked more or less like they felt some kind of malicious joy. “Very well, is there anything else that shouldn’t be delayed?”

“I don’t know if you classify it as such …” He seriously considered chocking Marlianken for her comment, since his plan had been to further question her about her time alone. “ … but I think the information I gathered about this world within the last couple of years should end up a little higher on your priority-list.” To make things worse she grinned in a cattish way.

“What kind of information are you talking about?” Honestly, he had stopped counting how many times he had started to rub his forehead by now.

“Pretty much everything, from governance over historical figures to social subtleties sorted by class.”

Now he understood how she had managed to handle her time alone. To her, a historian by heart and obsessed with her work, a somewhat mediaeval world had to be a paradise. “I think I understand what you’re trying to say … Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor are coming with us … everyone else: please head back to your duties.”

 

 

 

To go through all information Marlianken had gathered in peace, Ainz had chosen the conference room. Coming back here felt nostalgic, but it made him sad as well. If things would have gone different, this room wouldn’t be this empty. But instead of his friends he only had their emblems on their respective seat. At least he had Marlianken back, though it was no longer that relieving as he stood there again. Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor had fallen in some kind of humbleness the second they had entered. Marlianken however looked around and her gaze seemingly turned sad and haunted. **_I bet she’s missing the others as much as I do._** It came more and more to his awareness what kind of toll her time alone had taken. For the first time since he had found her, he took the time to take a very close look at her and realised that her clothing was fitting very loosely. The hair of her avatar hadn’t been this long too, at least as far as he remembered. How long had she already wandered through this world completely on her own? This question was nagging. Anyway she had told him it was too long. Just how long was too long? He hoped to at least get an answer on to this question while they studied what she had found out.

“All right, here we will have all the peace we need and all time in the world too. So what did you find?”

“Well, I do need to explain a thing first … during my time in this world, I stayed in one country for several years and collected pretty much everything I was able to find. No matter if it was of strategic value or just interesting for someone of my profession. A few countries are already done. Thus it would make sense if you told me what country of interest you don’t have enough information about first.”

“Since strategic value should come first … do you have any information about the slane theocracy my lady?” To Demiurge, everything that might help him to keep Nazarick safe from those fanatics, came first. Much to his relieve, Marlianken smirked.

“I do indeed have Information about the theocracy … though I have to admit, I was not able to bring my researches to an end there. … Maybe you should all take a few steps away from that table, just to make sure.” Nobody had a clue why she said that, but they did what she had asked them to. Marlianken opened a portal into her inventory and out of it a giant pile of notebooks crashed onto the table. The weight of those books was enough to make the table legs creak, but they weren’t giving in. “There you go, everything I got about the theocracy.” Her grin was more than amused as she saw how distraught everyone else looked.

“What the hell? … Marli how many notebooks are those?”

“2653 to be precise.” The distraught looks turned to horrified. This mass and she wasn’t finished? And those notebooks were far from thin. Each book was roughly 300 pages thick. “To make finding certain things easier, I marked them with different colors.”

“Uh huh … because that makes it so much easier. How long did it take to fill those?”

“About 6 Years … as I said, I wasn’t finished.”

“Accuracy is one thing, but you totally overdid it!”

“What? … I’m just working thoroughly. Everything that might seem like nonsense in the first place could very well be important in the end. Especially if you want to station people there and don’t want them to blow their cover.” She shrugged, but her gaze was insecure. Unconsciously, she started to shift her lip-piercing back and forth with her teeth.

After Pandora’s Actor had checked the stability of the table, he grabbed one of the books and flicked through. “Erstaunlich. Lady Marlianken your research is more than thoroughly and with such an amount of detail. Und das auch noch alleine, einfach nur bewundernswert.”

A little curious themselves, Albedo and Demiurge each grabbed a book and flicked through them too.

“Good grief … even slightest details …” Albedos expression constantly changed between astonishment and irritation.

“Everything in such a tiny handwriting … you said you had researched in the theocracy for 6 years? Did you ever take a break?” Demiurge seemed completely astonished too, but his voice contained nothing but pure fascination.

“I did take breaks, but only to not arise any unnecessary suspicion.” A more resigned sigh escaped Marliankens lips. “Couldn’t rest, even when I stopped working at night.”

Now Ainz grabbed one book too and opened it roughly in the middle part. In a really tiny handwriting there was pile over pile of information tightly squeezed on each page. “Your bad habits are getting worse I see.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your school notes were already tiny ... but compared to this your handwriting back then was huge.” **_And I thought we could handle this in one go. Could have known that this wouldn’t work. It’s not like I don’t know how overly thoroughly she is._** If it had been possible, Ainz had grimaced. He wasn’t aware that his heedless comment had gotten him the full attention of the NPCs present.

“If you were able to write more legibly while doing it fast, you wouldn’t have needed mine.” Marlianken looked like she wasn’t happy about his comment at all. She crossed her Arms and made an annoyed face.

“Hah! Nice excuse… do you got another one for your tendency to forget about your own needs whenever you dive head first into work?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I didn’t forget my own needs.”

“Really?” Ainz closed the book and returned it to the pile. “Does that mean your clothes are fitting this loose for kicks?”

Again she shifted her piercing. “Well okay … maybe I lost a kilo or two.”

“Just one or two? … Shorty if it wasn’t for the belt, you would lose your pants. So how many were it?”

“How should I know? It’s not like I had the means to check!” Now she was visibly angry and glared icily at Ainz. “And stop with that ‘Shorty’ shit already … I’m taller than you, for fucks sake.”

“And I’m older.”

“It’s just two friggin’ days!”

“Against two friggin’ centimetres … deal with it.”

“Only if you stop trying to protect me from pretty much everything.”

“You can wait for that until you drop dead.” Ainz laughed heartily and Marlianken was according to the glowing of the stone around her neck just stopped by it from doing whatever she intended to do. Annoyed she grimaced again.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I admit it’s nice for a change.”

“Still … we’re not children anymore. I can watch out for myself!”

“Because that worked so well until now … why was I thinking you were dead again? Refresh my memory.”

“Hey, you know that this asshole Dowel would have kicked me out otherwise.” The flames in her eyes flared up for a second.

“Dowel … yeah I’d really like to have this douchebag over here. I bet he would be Nazaricks favourite training dummy.”

“You sure about that? I’d say he wouldn’t survive for even 5 Minutes.”

 

 

Disbelieving their eyes and ears, the NPCs watched the back and forth between Ainz and Marlianken. Up until now, Ainz had never lost a single word about the world of the creators. Within this miniature fight however, he had dropped more information than even before the big end. While Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor where simply curious, it seemed like Albedo grew grumpier with every word between the two supreme beings.

“Lady Marlianken, may I ask you a few questions about these notes?” The smile typical for Albedo looked more like the mask of a lunatic.

“Sure … what do you want to know?” A little puzzled, Marlianken raised an eyebrow. Albedos behaviour poked her suspicion. Still she approached Marlianken and started to bombard her with questions about the notebook in her hand. Every question was answered patiently.

Ainz on the other hand turned to Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor. While Demiurge was seemingly reading with full attention, it looked completely plastic on Pandora’s Actor. “Very well … are you able to find something useful to your work within this information pile?”

“Jawohl!” Hastily, Pandora’s Actor saluted.

Demiurge just looked up from the book in his hand. “Indeed my lord. As soon as I know which books are of relevance for my duties, I will study them thoroughly.”

“Good to hear … just good to hear.” The racket and mayhem of this day had exhausted Ainz mentally. Lost in thought, he again rubbed his forehead and started to watch the succubi. From his point of view, it must have been like this with Marliankens students. Questions are posed, she answering them calm and patiently.

“My lord? Are you alright?”

“What?” This question caught Ainz off-guard. “Yes … Everything is fine Demiurge.”

Demiurge had meanwhile put the book back and he too seemed to watch Albedo and Marlianken. “It is oddly fascinating how different those two are, besides both of them being succubus demons, don’t you think? Almost like Day and Night.”

“You are right about that …” So far Ainz hadn’t really payed such things any attention, but now that Demiurge had pointed it out, he wasn’t able to un-see it. These two women really were a day and night difference, it already started at their physique. Blonde against black-haired, slim brown against dominant white horns, athletic against feminine figure, purple against yellow eyes, casual clothing style against ostentatious female and last but not least the height difference, causing Albedo to constantly looking up to Marlianken. Even their wings where a little different, since Marliankens where glinting blue when light shined upon them. Their psychic differences were too many to count and he was sure they were polar opposites on many things.

“Rosen von unterschiedlicher Farbe, in der Tat.“ In an overly dramatic manor, Pandora’s Actor laid a hand over his heart. “Und trotzdem blühen sie wunderschön.” He tapped on his cap with his other hand and pulled it down slightly.

**_Oh fuck me … why did I program him as walking awkwardness._** Without the emotion suppression, Ainz surely would have sunken into the ground out of shame. Luckily it seemed like both women hadn’t noticed anything. At least he thought this way, until he saw that Marlianken was looking at him from the corner of her eyes, a slightly malicious grin on her lips. To his relieve she at least said nothing.

“So how about the colour coding you mentioned earlier?” Albedo put the book in her hand back and took a new one with a different coloured back. “Are there any mixed recordings?”

“Partially, but they got their own colour code.” It didn’t matter how patiently Marlianken was able to explain things, she still perfectly knew when someone was trying to stall. “I’ll give you a list of those codes and then you can rummage through those books to your heart’s content. Including those about the other countries and if you don’t have some really unpostponable questions left, I’d like to turn my attention to that archive.” Annoyed she rubbed over the bridge of her nose.

“I do indeed have one question left.”

“Sure, go ahead …” **_Just like I thought._**

“How is it possible that Lord Ainz recognized you through a single spell? Let alone a spell as common and weak as ‘Spellbreaker’?” How she managed to further intensify her already creepy smile was a miracle nobody understood.

“Good question … I shoved enough hints into his face though.” Questioning looks were directed at Ainz. “I guess this is your turn then.”

“Yes, I know …” He luckily already knew how to weasel himself out. “Your hints just went under my radar. As you used ‘Spellbreaker’ things just kind of clicked in my head.”

A look this puzzled had never graced Albedos features before, he was sure. “Which hints do you mean my lord?”

“First, the name … that hint was subtle but relatively clear.” A short but cattish laugh came from Marlianken. “What’s so funny?” Oh how he hated it, when she mocked him.

“Nothing …” That innocent face she made wasn’t convincing Ainz.

“The Name was a hint? How could this be?”

“That very simple … Alice is the name of the protagonist of one of my favourite books. The last name Lidell is from one of the many reinterpretation of this book.”

“Just like the name Marlianken … though I still don’t get why you like that aggressive version of the dormouse so much.”

“She was funny, I don’t need another reason.” Again she laughed.

“I’ll be leaving it at that … the second hint was that she said she was a historian.”

“That should have ringed a bell.”

“Thank you, I already know it.” Grumbling he continued. “Then there was her behaviour … you didn’t even tried to act different.”

“Why should I? I wanted you to realize that it’s me.” Again she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“The final hint was this ‘Spellbreaker’ … that one couldn’t have been clearer.”

“Please do excuse me my lord, but why ‘Spellbreaker’? Other spells would have been more obvious, right?” It seemed like Albedo was still able to look more confused.

“Maybe on others, but not on our counter-monstrosity here.” In a casual manner, he pointed to Marlianken. There was no way he would leave a chance to tease her a little unused.

“How flattering …” Marlianken did obviously not like it.

“What? It’s the most accurate description. The way you pushed your counter skills and spells to their maximum potential makes everything else an understatement.”

She just sighed. “You’re right about that. Still I don’t like such nicknames.” Her gaze darkened. “And if you start to bring up any of those nicknames you guys invented, I’ll be finding a way to trick this thing.” She tugged a little on the necklace that kept her from harming him.

Ainz just laughed. “It’s okay … as you wish … so back to topic: Like you already stated Albedo, ‘Spellbreaker’ is a relatively weak spell, only able to reliably disrupt magic up to tier 5. On any spell above the chance to succeed drops drastically. Therefore nobody uses this spell against tier 7 magic, the risk to fail is just too high. However with Marliankens specialization, equipment and passive buffs she is able to reliably disrupt magic up to tier 8 and tier 9 still with a 50% chance.” A comical dropped jaw would have been a perfect addition to their horrified faces. “I guess that were all hints, right?”

“You forgot about the appearance of my illusion, this ‘tower of truth’ story and that I flat out told you that I don’t want to run into an aggressive guardian … being more obvious was impossible.”

“Well … I guess you are right.” Ashamed of himself, Ainz rubbed his jaw.

“May I ask, what was a hint about the appearance of your illusion and the story?” That Demiurge now chimed in wasn’t to Ainz liking.

“That’s easy to explain.” The grin on Marliankens lips was even less to his liking. “The appearance of my illusion was my own, back from our world.” Wide eyed, they stared at her. “And this ‘tower of truth’ story was thought up by my mother. She used it as bedtime stories when we were still kids.”

Basically Ainz had no interest in revealing anything that might lead to the NPCs being disappointed. Within a few minutes he himself had spilled more than he liked though. And Marlianken of all people was spilling even more details that he deemed to somehow pose as problems. Telling them something about their childhood was less problematic than the fact that they were once humans. Counting those within Nazarick who weren’t despising humans was way easier than counting those who did. He devoutly hoped that they would just make up their own story again, preferably something to his and Marliankens advantage. Still he tried to change the subject, just to make sure.

“Could we turn our attention to the archive now? I guess, you won’t want to study the whole stuff on site.”

His hopes that she wouldn’t notice that he was just trying to change the subject was destroyed by her cattish grin. Of course she had noticed, but she refrained from saying anything about it. “On site would be a little impractical … too many possible confounding factors. Just thinking about someone stumbling in … I don’t like the thought of giving potential enemies access to the information stored there.” Like she had done countless times by now, she pulled a few lose strands out of her face.

“You’re not alone with that feeling … so we need to cart this whole stuff off to Nazarick. As far as I remember, Ashurbanipal got several storage rooms. Most of them should be empty.”

“Storing seeming shouldn’t be a problem. What about transportation? There are more possibilities for anything going wrong than one might think and I dare to doubt that everything is in good shape.”

“Is old paper really able to crumble?”

“If it’s dry enough … though I’m more concerned about mould damages. According to the musty smell down there it’s definitely at least the possibility.”

“I’m sure Titus knows what to do. We still need an excuse for the guild though. Showing up empty handed is something I’d like to avoid.”

“You’re right about that. Otherwise your carefully built reputation might get damaged.” How badly Ainz wished to simply wipe that cattish grin off her face. “Luckily that thing being underground gives us an almost perfect excuse.”

“Mind telling me what it is?”

“I’d thought, I’ll leave you guessing … just kidding, you can fake water damage pretty easily. I’m simply telling the guild that I accidentally triggered a magic trap in my over eagerness and the whole archive is now flooded.”

“And we only survived because I reacted quickly enough?”

“Embellish the story as much as you like. The guild got an explanation and after everything is carted off we just flood it for real. If we want to be perfectly safe, we can also place some fake documents before flooding it. Just in case someone got the means to dive down there.”

“Sounds reasonable to me.” Ainz turned to the others present. “Objections or additional suggestions?”

“Nein!” Again Pandora’s Actor hastily saluted.

“None my lord.” Demiurge slightly bowed his head down.

“Not a bit my lord.” Albedos smile got even more intense.

“I see. Well then I will discuss our next steps with Naberal. Why don’t you go and get some rest? … Shorty.” Though Ainz was no longer able to grin, it was hearable that he would have grinned if possible.

“You’re really enjoying this way too much.” With one hand, Marlianken covered her eyes. “And there is no way I’m leaving all work to you. Besides I’ve become a little paranoid about storing and transportation anyway.”

“Because of that student who destroyed this centuries old tome with his clumsiness?”

“Basically …” She sighed and pointed to Ainz. “So don’t you dare object. My professional discipline … I don’t need to say the rest, right?”

Again Ainz laughed heartily. “No … definitely not.”

Her only answer was a crooked smile, but it still contained amusement. “Should we start then? I got no idea how big this archive is and the sooner we get everything out of there the better.”

“May I pose one last question?” It wasn’t uncommon for Pandora’s Actor to choose unlikely moments to pose a question or add a comment. Solely his calm and serious tone seemed out of place.

“Sure.” Something about this uncommon behaviour poked Ainzs curiosity.

“Lady Marlianken?” The doppelganger directly looked at her, at least it seemed like he did. “May I have a look upon your ring of Ainz Ooal Gown? Ich mache mir Sorgen, ob er in eurer Zeit alleine nicht vielleicht beschädigt worden sein könnte.“

„Wirklich nur ein Blick oder ein Blick mit den Fingern?“ The way Marlianken was grinning in amusement made Ainz nervous. Almost as nervous as her being able to casually talk to Pandora’s Actor in German.

“Ich müsste Lügen um zu behaupten, dass ich Euren Ring überprüfen könnte ohne diesen zu berühren.“

Everyone else had no clue why she was doing it, but for some reason Marlianken pulled the mass of blonde waves over her right ear out of the way. Unsurprisingly she was wearing several earrings, just like on the left. Though it were 5 instead of 4. She fumbled on the most outstanding one until she managed to open it. To finally confuse the onlookers, she handed the earring over to Pandora’s Actor. Seemingly searching for something, he shifted the golden plug over and over again. Roughly a minute later he was done with examining the trinket and handed it back to her and she put it back on.

This little golden ornament was really eye catching, especially since all other earrings were silver. A red stone was set in its centre and if one took a close look, it was possible to see the guild emblem inside of the stone. Without paying attention to puzzled looks directed at her, she pulled her hair out from behind her ear and her earring collection once again vanished under a veil of blonde hair. Now Albedo and Demiurge finally understood why there was no visible ring on her hands.

“Zufrieden?”

“Durchaus. Nicht der kleinste Schaden.“

And now she was laughing heartily.

“Could you maybe talk in a way that everybody understands?” Ainz was unable to suppress a slight grumble. A short answer was given by Marlianken.

“He was concerned that my ring might be damaged. So I gave him the little thing to check.” Still grinning she shrugged.

Right at that moment, he was unable to understand his creations behaviour, but he accepted it for the time given. Creating ‘Ask-Later’ lists was hopefully not becoming a bad habit. “I see …” **_Like hell I do!_** “Then I suggest we both pay Titus a visit, so you can discuss everything with him.”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me.” Slowly Ainz grew sick of her amused grin, mainly because he felt mocked by her. Nonetheless he tried to hide it.

“Am I able to rely on you three to take care of everything else?”

“Of course, my lord.” Albedo seemed to suddenly remember that she was always their speaker under normal circumstances. Though all 3 performed the obligatory bow.

“Perfect.” He turned to Marlianken. “Shall we?” Invitingly he held his in her direction. Hardly a second after she took his hand, he teleported away with her.

 

 

 

 

With both supreme beings gone, a creepy atmosphere fell over the conference room. Despite her friendly smile it was clear how Albedos anger was boiling beneath. Additionally she seemed to mumble something, though even with advanced hearing only every third or ever forth word was clearly understandable.

“Bedtime stories … to school together … nicknames …”

Both men were sure that she would tear anyone dumb enough to try talking to her right now to pieces. Exactly for this reason they got a few steps away from her.

“One question, why did want to check Lady Marliankens ring?”

“A truly magnificent question.” Pandora’s Actor threw one arm up in the air and Demiurge instantly regretted asking him. “Considering the doubts of our dearest overseer, I was looking for an excuse to create a chance for her to see this wonderfully unique ring with her own eyes.” It seemed like he was more than pleased with himself.

This method had been subtle, Demiurge acknowledged it ungrudgingly. “Unique indeed.” He readjusted his glasses. “An earring … that’s not something you’d think of immediately.”

“It is, isn’t it? Lord Ainz knew about lady Marliankens fondness of earrings and created it only for her.”

“HE DID WHAT???!!!” This little detail was enough to let Albedos anger finally get the better of her. A gaze more fitting for a Gorgon than a Succubus, she starred infuriated at the doppelganger. All while he tried to calm her with pacifying gestures.

“Bitte … You are getting it wrong dearest …” He wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before Albedo was standing right in front of him and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform.

“What do I get wrong … come on, I’m dying to hear what you have to say.” Now even her tone was that of a lunatic.

Searching for help, Pandora’s Actor tried to get eye contact with his demonic comrade. Though he wasn’t getting any help, just a silently formed ‘Good Luck’. While it was still possible, Demiurge preferred to retreat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't abandoned this fic, life was just a bitch and kept my from writing, let alone translating.
> 
> I'll try to write a little longer chapters, but I have no idea if I can always do it.
> 
> Anyway ... hope the next one doesn't take two months to write xD


	8. Chapter 8

How it was possible to discuss such simple things like document transportation for hours was a miracle to Ainz. Still he waited patiently and pretended to have a clue about the things Marlianken and Titus were talking about.

It had already started after he had teleported himself and Marlianken into Ashurbanipal. They were greeted by one of the Overlords stationed there after about 5 seconds. Or rather he fell on his knees and showed pure submission. That it was more than embarrassing for his long-time friend was obvious, even without having any kind of observational skills. Additionally their presence seemed to be getting around rather quickly, more and more staff hurried to them to pay their respect, with the head librarian leading the way.

Only after Marlianken had repeatedly assured him that overly formal behaviour would only be hindering, he eased up a little. After she had explained everything she knew about the found archive, they started to talk shop about transportation, handling and storing.

This spectacle was already going on like this for about two hours and Ainzs mind had already resigned after short time. **_Bookworms among themselves …_** Despite his growing boredom it had something calming, watching her being in her element. To this day he had never had the chance to witness her in action. It didn’t take long for him to realize why the students had preferred her over professor Dowel.

Her tone was surprisingly calm, her explanations clear and unmistakeable. If he had had teachers like that during his school days then maybe he would have made it as far as she did. Though he also knew what she had sacrificed to reach this far. Countless hours of sleep were only the smallest figure on that list.

 

“My lady I will pick my most capable subordinates to assist you. Are you sure you don’t want me to personally aid you too?”

“Titus I don’t refuse because I think you’re not capable, on the contrary. Especially because of your capabilities I want you to continue your own duties, they are too important for hitch-free processes within Nazarick.”

Seemingly torn between pride and desperation, he finally gave up. “As you wish, my lady. With your leave, I’d like to withdraw and instruct my subordinates accordingly.”

“Of course.”

Wordlessly he bowed and left, leaving the last supreme beings alone. He was barely out of hearing range when Marlianken sighed in a resigned way. “Can you please tell me how you manage to do that?”

“Do what?” Ainz had not even the slightest clue what she was talking about.

“Not giving in to this endless begging. The poor guy almost started to cry, just because I wasn’t accepting his help.” She pulled some loose strands back but wasn’t letting them loose.

“Practice?”

“You know, I don’t need you to fool myself.”

“I’m serious about that. You have no idea how many time I needed to stop overly eager interns so no one could accuse me of being lazy later.”

“Bonus point for working in a research group at a university.”

“Compared to the so called free market, I’d say you’re right.” A low chuckle escaped Ainzs lips. “Though when my vacations were authorised, they stayed authorized.”

“Please don’t remind me.” She let go of the strands still caught between her fingers. “I’m still trying to leave all of that shit behind me.”

“Fine by me. In the end, it’s only me who’ll be needlessly getting angry.”

They both laughed, but it sounded sad.

“Back to work?”

“Something like that.” To further emphasize his statement, Ainz slightly shook his head.

 

 

 

Shalltear was commandeered to provide the portal for the transportation of the archives contents. It wasn’t to her liking, not even a little. Loosing against Marlianken was one thing, but now being forced to help her was taking the cake. If it hadn’t been a direct order from lord Ainz, she would have looked for a way to weasel herself out of it.

Now she was out of necessity standing inside this hated archive and provided the portal, just as ordered. She would have only been too pleased to just flood the whole thing, preferably with Marlianken still inside. Unfortunately this wasn’t possible. To make matters worse, she was talking with lord Ainz like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It looked like they were joking, both laughed and lord Ainz was even laying an arm around her shoulder while they were doing it. Upping her anger and scorn for this woman was almost impossible.

**_You damn bitch … I don’t care if you originate from the world of the supreme beings, you’re just an unofficial. You’re not one of them! I won’t leave him to you! I’ve managed to take on Albedo to this point, so I can take you on too! You succubus bitches may have some kind of advantage, but Lord Peroronchino gave me everything a woman needs to make a man happy. Neither of you will win against me!!_ **

Her anger was visible for everyone, she was grinding her teeth and stared at Marlianken like she was about to stab her with her pipette lance. Nobody dared to talk to her, they scurried past her as fast as possible. As Lord Ainz pulled Marlianken into a hug where their cheeks almost touched, Shalltear had enough. She wasn’t yelling, but her concentration was instantly gone and the portal collapsed while she was still stand on her spot champing with rage. Even the dumbest person was able to see that she was like a volcano about to erupt.

“Please do excuse me … Misstress Shalltear?” Titus had no other choice but trying to talk to the vampire, despite being afraid. Her answer was a completely crazy glare. “I apologize … but … the portal? … Lord Ainz wishes for us to work as fast as possible…” Unfortunately she was able to glare even crazier. “Please think about it. The sooner we are finished …” Without saying a word, Shalltear reopened her portal and returned to stare at Marlianken like she wanted to kill her.

 

 

 

Marlianken hated to just stand by and watch, but Ainz had forced her to do it. Now she was nervously observing how the library staff was carting off everything through Shalltears portal, while shifting her lip-piercing back and forth.

“What’s your deal with that thing?” Ainz pointed to her piercing.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” That question made no sense for her. More importantly, she needed all of her self-restraint to stay calm, especially when she saw the staff handling documents in bad shape.

“You’re shifting your piercing from time to time.”

“I do?” She stopped. “To be honest, I don’t recognize doing it.”

“That’s interesting … looks like you changed your old nervous tick a little.” He started to laugh.

“Looks like it.” She laughed too.

Still laughing, he laid an arm around her shoulder. “Good to see that you haven’t entirely changed.”

“Really? I think I have massively changed.” Again she shifted the thin metal ring back and forth.

“You still got your nervous tick, though it changed a little. You provoke me on purpose to distract from yourself. You need to be forced to leave work to others … If you’ll start cursing in different languages then I’d say you haven’t changed.” For each of his points, he held an additional finger up.

“Annoy me enough and you might hear it sooner than you think.” She grinned mischievously.

“You can count on me not letting this one slip.” Again he laughed. “Plus I’d like to know if the automatically translating magic this world fails on other languages of our world too.”

“Amadan.” Grinning, she shook her head.

“Wait, what?”

“See? It fails.”

“Well it does, but what did you just say?”

“Grab a Gaelic- dictionary and look it up.” She slightly chuckled.

“Gaelic? Okay, I know you lived in Scotland for the last couple of years but wasn’t English enough to get around?”

“Not if some of your co-workers decide to insult everyone and everything in Gaelic out of ‘Scottish pride’.” Though it not being necessary, she showed quotes with her fingers.

First they both laughed, but they quickly fell back into silence and Marlianken watched nervously, she again shifted her piercing, how work progressed. At it, he saw how haunted and at the same time exhausted her look was.

“You’re no longer used to being safe, are you?”

Her sigh sounded sad. “You’re right, unfortunately.” And again her look turned somewhat empty.

It was only a short glance behind her always amused and cattish façade, but it was enough. The time alone had definitely left traces on her psyche. Or were those traces from the one year he thought she was dead? Probably a mix of both and despite knowing it wasn’t the case, he felt like he had failed her back then.

“I’m sorry.” Somehow he had the feeling, he needed to say it.

“For what?”

“For failing you.”

“You didn’t.” She sighed and shook her head. “Coming over to say ‘Hi’ wasn’t really possible with this much distance.”

“Still, I should …”

“Damn it, would you stop that?” Interrupting him was rude, she knew it, but it was the only right thing to do. “I know about everything you tried. You’ve done everything possible without being related with me. So please stop kicking yourself for it.” Her smile was soft, but there was something pained in her eyes.

Unable to find fitting words to answer, he just pulled her into a tight hug. There was no way he would allow something like that to happen to her again. He wasn’t too far away this time and there was no one who could send him off, simply stating that it was a decision only some related was allowed to make. Most importantly he was now able to interfere before it would be too late.

Carefully she returned the hug. “I know … missed you too.”

 

 

 

 

It was already pitch-black as carting everything off neared completion. They could confidently leave the remaining tasks to Titus. As soon as he would be finished and placed fake documents, Shalltear should open a portal to a lake over the entrance, with the archive being flooded as a result. Therefore satisfying the adventurers guilds curiosity was the only task left and it was stuck with Ainz and Marlianken. They wanted to make it authentic, but especially Hamsuke wasn’t thrilled about the most important part.

“Master, please don’t do this, I beg of you, that I do.”

“Good grief … water won’t hurt you! Someone who just barely escaped a flood wave is soaked to the bone, that’s only natural.” Ainz held a hand in front of his face and shook his head, like he had done it countless times during this discussion by now.

“Compared to the rest of us, you’re having it easy anyway.” Even Marlianken was annoyed by Hamsuke being hydrophobic. “No sticky clothes and no armour that’s harder to move after getting wet. Besides you’re not the one having to go all out with a second-rate theatre to ease the guild.” That was the part that upset her most.

She had already changed her looks with the same illusion she had used to contact them. Seeing her true looks felt strange to Ainz. The last time he had seen her personally, she had looked very different. Afterwards he had only seen photographs of the changes she went through and he was pretty sure she had photoshoped those to calm him and the others.

“And it’s not like that stuff is poisonous or something like that.” Both hands stemmed on her hips, Marlianken grumbled. The oversized hamster quivered and looked like she was about to run off.

“Stupid fur ball. Acting this disgraceful towards the last creators …”

“It’s fine Naberal.” Ainz couldn’t bear any more fuzz, he was fed up with it for years to come anyway. “Listen Hamsuke … Either you stop acting like a wuss or I’ll be leaving you here and tell the guild you drowned. Meaning I wouldn’t drag you along anymore and you would never leave Nazarick again, since nobody is supposed to know you’re still alive. Your choice!” Giving her such an ultimatum wasn’t fair, but he didn’t care anymore.

Forced to choose between pest and cholera, Hamsuke gave up. “I beg off you, don’t leave me here, that I do.” Her whiskers were hanging low and she looked distressed.

“Took long enough.” He still pitied the hamster a little, her behaviour was understandable to some degree. None of them was thrilled to walk back to E-Rantel completely soaked. That it was only a two hours march away wasn’t changing anything. “Let’s get this over with … Marli, would you like to do the honours?”

A crooked grin on her face, she shrugged and with a snap of her fingers a portal-like ring appeared over their heads. Though it looked more like a compact field of mists and the containing energy crackled audibly. Not even a second later a torrent of water splashed onto them. The result almost caused Ainz to burst out laughing.

Hamsuke had lost almost a third of her size, due to her fur being weighed down by water. Both women had problems with uncomfortably sticking clothes and thanks to her bangs-free haircut, Marlianken had to somehow get her hair out of her eyes too. Additionally both Naberal and Hamsuke had a somewhat miserable look on their faces.

“Having fun?” Somehow Ainz had missed the range of Marliankes grumpy faces.

“Pffft … No …” And it made not bursting out laughing even more difficult. That she was rolling her eyes, shaking her head and throwing her hands up at the same time only increased the difficulty level.

“For the love of … laugh already … that’s just unbelievable.”

It felt great to just do it. Just enjoying some easiness was a dream come true. The last time he had laughed like this was when Sebas and Demiurge had fought like Touch-Me and Ulbert. It took three waves of emotion suppression before he recovered himself, though he still giggled a little.

“That wet-dog- look suits you …”

“Uhu … just make fun of me.” She covered her face with one hand.

“I … pffft … I’m sorry … honestly.”

“As long as you giggle like a little kid, I won’t buy it.” She looked at him through her fingers, visibly angry.

 

 

 

 

Being head of the local adventurer guild had made retirement somewhat comfortable for Pluton Ainzach. Other formers of his calibre died in battle, since they refused to admit that some things were a lot more difficult in their mid or even end 40ies then in their early 20ies. Unnecessary deaths in his opinion, such men were better of training youngsters and sharing their experiences. If they did, then maybe the quality among new adventurers wouldn’t steadily decline. Even the silver-rank stayed a dream to most of them.

The thought of it caused him to sigh. Not only because it made him sad, but mainly because he, as head of the guild, had to clean up the mess behind those dimwits. Today was one of these days, where cleaning up behind them was keeping him in the guild until night-time.

He hated bureaucracy!

Cursing wasn’t helping though, therefore he turned his attention back to the reports about adventurers running out of control or screwing up. Judging by the height of the pile on his desk this was going to be a very long night. To make matters worse for him, someone knocked at his door.

“Come in!” He sounded more annoyed than intended.

“Please do excuse me for disturbing you master Ainzach.” A young woman, barely old enough to no longer consider her a child, opened the door slightly and peeked in. The poor thing was completely scared because of his rough tone.

“It’s alright … what’s the matter?” He felt a little bad for her, nightshifts were always forced on the youngest ones.

“Sir Momon and Lady Nabe are back. It seems like there was some kind of incident during their last contract.”

That utterance puzzled him. Momon and an incident? If he recalled right, then he and Nabe had accompanied a young historian from a foreign country to some kind of underground archive. This was a completely harmless contract and an unparalleled underload for an adamantite team, at least in his understanding. It seemed like he had been wrong though.

“Are they still within the building?” That story really made him curious.

“They are.”

“Do you mind telling me where they are too?” He made a mental note to let the girl get instructed again.

“Uhm … conference room 2” Again, she looked scared.

Without paying any more attention to the girl, he stood up and left the room to see Momon. Arriving at the room, he saw that the door was wide open. He peeked inside and saw only Nabe and the commissioner.

“Meister Ainzach? We suspected you might still be here. Sir Momon is searching for you.” Nabe sounded untypically concerned. After exact contemplation, the reason for it was clear. Both Nabe and the woman beside her were soaked to the bone. Additionally the other one quivered and her stare, directed to the floor, showed that she was afraid of something. At least someone had been smart enough to wrap her in a blanket. Momons helmet and chest plate lay on the table, they showed traces of wetness too.

“I was informed about your early return. Can you tell me what happened?” How it was possible to get this soaked in an underground complex was something he was really curious about.

“All my fault …” The woman next to Nabe, he remembered that her name was Alice Lidell, shook her head, clearly about to start crying. “I was too rash, I …” Her quivering intensified and Nabe did her best in trying to calm her. “My superiors are going to kill me! All that knowledge simply lost and it’s my fault! And I lost everything they entrusted me with too …” Additionally to her quivering she went pale.

No matter how many fights he had successfully survived, a devastated woman still hit a weak spot.

“Master Ainzach, there you are!” Momons voice reached him from the other end of the corridor. More out of habit, Ainzach turned to him. It was the first time he saw that hulk without his helmet or chest plate. That he was hiding a muscular body under that armour was a given, but the soaked shirt was boosting the impression. And Momons face … Now it was clear to Ainzach why he always kept his helmet on, even with best intentions there was no way to call him good looking.

“Momon! … It’s a little … unusual to see you without your helmet.”

“Well …” Momon scratched his neck. “I’d like to say that vanity is the reason I don’t take it off.”

“Well said.” Ainzach laughed shortly. “But what’s more important … what happened? You did accompany Miss Lidell to an archive, right? How is it possible for you to be back this early and soaked no less?”

In the room, Alice yelped and quivered even more, Nabe was the only reason she wasn’t hiding herself like a scared child.

“Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else. Miss Lidell isn’t handling this incident very well.” Normally, Momons voice didn’t contain this much concern.

“Indeed.” In Ainzachs opinion this woman was close to simply breaking down, but he kept it to himself. Such comments weren’t just rude, but inappropriate too. He indicated to Momon to take the lead and they went out of hearing range. “Alright, now please explain to me what happened.”

“Much to my disgrace, I have to admit that I was reacting too late. Miss Lidell turned into a kid in a toy store after we had entered the archive. At first Nabe and I rotated with keeping an eye on her and searching for traps and rendering them harmless. I guess with time passing our attention lessened. We were actually sure we had found every trap and disabled it.” It was visible how ashamed Momon was. Another thing his helmet was normally hiding.

“Well even the best are not safe from tiredness and its effects. What happened next?”

“Miss Lidell was busy with an area full of scrolls, there was one fascinating her in particular. Nabe identified the trap the moment Miss Lidell pulled that scroll from the shelf. We managed to escape the triggered flood wave, but it was a close call.”

“I’d say you didn’t escape entirely, since you got this wet.” This comment caused Momon to smirk. “That explains were her luggage went.” There was no way he would ever forget that oversized backpack. “But why is she this scared.”

Momon crossed his arms and slightly shook his head. “According to her, her superiors are more than strict.”

“I see … “ Women in particular were more than often scared of strict superiors, that was far from uncommon. But they wouldn’t be having her head because of magic trap, would they? “ … no wonder she is scared. Unfortunately she has to handle this burden herself.”

“I’m afraid you are right … I feel even guiltier because Miss Lidell had already paid up front. I hate to receive advance praise and not living up to it.” It seemed like Momon was thinking about something, therefore Ainzach waited until he was ready to share his thought. “Do you think it would be appropriate if Nabe stayed with her? I don’t want to leave her alone while she is in this condition, especially since I feel responsible for it.”

“If the circumstances were different I’d say ‘no’ but …” Back in his days, Ainzach would have thought the same way. “… leaving a woman this scared alone isn’t to my liking either.”

 

 

 

 

“I still can’t believe that old man swallowed this show.” Marlianken was shaking her head in concern. She and Naberal had left the guild after Ainz had convinced the guild master to deem his suggestion to not leave her alone appropriate. There was no way this old man was that stupid, right? Even third-rate soap operas had less tacky clichés up their sleeves. None the less she was now standing at the window of the room they had rented and watched the goings-on on the square in front of it.

“Why certainly, your acting left no other possible outcome.” Being praised by Naberal wasn’t to her liking.

“If you consider that performance believable, then maybe you should observe some really good actors. That would surely change your mind.” Carefully she leaned against the window frame. She was tired, exhausted even.

“Certainly not my lady, it is impossible for anyone to compare themselves to a supreme being such as you.” With a mild smile, Naberal bowed her head.

Marlianken wasn’t the least bit convinced, but she kept every other thought to herself. Yet another discussion about her alleged greatness was nothing she wanted to be part of. Instead she settled for looking at her watchdog, Ainz could assure her it wasn’t like that as much as he wanted, over her shoulder and smirking. Though he exaggerated sometimes, she had to admit that the doppelganger showing this much enthusiasm had indeed something cute. If it hadn’t been the case, Marlianken would have done everything within her power to convince her otherwise.

Screams redirected her attention to the square in front of the window. A red-haired, poor-looking girl was brutally dragged along by a fat middle-aged man already balding. The ornaments on his clothing and his jewellery reflected the faint light of the street lanterns. Everyone running around in such attire without bodyguards was definitely dumb and up to no good. Additionally the torn clothing of the girl left very little room for speculations, her pained screams even less.

“Tsk.” It was itching her to just teach that man a lesson, his kind simply disgusted her.

“My Lady?” Naberal peeked past Marlianken to see what had caused her displeasure. The turmoil down on the street quickly explained the cold hatred in the demoness’ eyes. “If you wish, I will crush the insolent insect that causes your anger immediately.”

“Marlianken blinked once very slowly and took a deep breath. “No need to.” A waft of mists thickened over her shoulder and took the form of a scorpion. The ghostly animal was set on the ledge by her and it vanished through the window into the night.

To humans this scorpion might have been invisible, but not to Naberal. Swiftly it scuttled towards the man, up his leg and sunk its stinger into the man’s genitals. After that it disintegrated.

The stung one started to scream and waved about something. Eventually he pulled a dagger out of his waistcoat and tried to stab the air around him. All while he backed away further and further, until he was standing with his back against a wall. He looked like he feared for his life and still he screamed around and tried to stab non-existing enemies. The whole thing continued for about two minutes, then guards ended it by taking the man into custody. The girl had already run off.

“And they say we are the evil, threating their so called peace.” Still cold hatred in her eyes, Marlianken watched how the man was dragged away, wriggling and screaming. A bitter laugh followed her words.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean my Lady?”

“Humans state that everything not-human is an evil, threating their peace … don’t make me laugh … they don’t need demi-humans or demons, they are already nasty enough among themselves… they murder, plunder, rape and use each other as pawn for their intrigues… If that’s what it means to be human, then I gladly am the evil threating their peace.”

As sour as this statement sounded, it was fully understandable. No matter from which ankle Naberal tried to look at it, she completely identified herself with those words. The humans of this world had proven those words truth to her anyway. Setting aside those annoying insects she had the doubtful pleasure of interacting with, if she remembered the details about the situation Sebas had rescued this girl from she was overrun by hatred. Killing humans was no big deal for her, but the habit of sexual assault among them was completely disgusting to her. The whole topic in general disgusted her, no matter which species.

“I think I understand … is that why you personally punished this insect?”

“Partly …” Again Marlianken laughed slightly and maliciously. “… but mainly because of the record following him.”

“Record my lady?”

“Sorry I forgot …” She rubbed her forehead and shook her head slightly. “There are only a few job-classes with the ability to see ghosts … The ghosts of multiple girls followed this man and they all accused him of being a rapist and murderer.”

“I assume the ghostly scorpion ensured that he was able to see his chasers?”

“Clever girl.” This time her laugh sounded friendly and honestly.

This honest laugh was relieving to Naberal. Since she was alone with the demoness, she had recognized how much sadness and exhaustion surrounded her. Easing this sadness, even for just a moment was a good starting point. There was no way she would stand by watching while the supreme one that escaped death to return to them was consumed by sadness.

Additionally Lady Marliankens magic poked her curiosity. If Naberal recalled right, then one of lady Marliankens job-classes was called ‘Soul Link’. Was there anyone else within Nazarick with this class? One of the creators had this class too as far as she remembered, but she couldn’t recall which one. She was embarrassed by her lack of knowledge, but it stayed undetected since her Lady was again watching the square.

Unlike previously, she seemed to be amused. Why was not identifiable for Naberal, but she tried to spot the source of this amusement. As she discovered a badly created camouflage-field, it became clear to her. Someone was dumb enough to observe them. So it wasn’t just her imagination when she had thought someone had followed them after they left the guild. According to the poorly executed magic, it had to be a creature from this world.

“So you recognized him too?” Marlianken grinned maliciously. “What do you think about paying our tail a little visit? Simply keeping him from seeing anything through this window would be rude, right?”

“At your leisure, my Lady.”

The grin on Marliankens face grew wider. She opened the window and invitingly held a hand out to Naberal. A little puzzled, she reached for it. Despite not being a stranger to short range teleportation, the Trickster-class version still felt strange. Like her body was shattering like thin glass and then reassembled itself. Now the women were standing behind said field and whoever was inside it wasn’t noticing a thing. Maliciously chuckling and shaking her head, the succubus cancelled the spell of their follower.

“You should really practice your camouflage magic some more dear.”

Where the magic field had been, a simply dressed man appeared. Brown hair, stubble, dark eyes and average facial feature, to summarize forget worthy. Being detected seemed to surprise him, but it wasn’t keeping him from trying to attack them. An attack Marlianken easily countered. She yanked the knife out of his hand and kicked him into a less visible corner at the same time.

“Sheesh, such bad manners.” Still grinning, she tossed the knife aside. The shock was readable on her opponents face. “Chasing after women and then attacking them after they call you out. Your poor parents must be really ashamed.”

The man wasn’t losing a single word, but his look more than once switched nervously from Marlianken to Naberal. Obviously he was more afraid of her. He started an escape attempt, but out he was immediately captured by see-through chains darting out of the ground.

“My, my … what should I do with you?” Marlianken tapped against her cheek repeatedly. “How about you telling me what this nonsense was about? Maybe it will propitiate me.”

She wasn’t getting an answer, still the man desperately tried to free himself.

“As you wish.” Evidently annoyed, Marlianken kicked the man back against the wall behind him. He coughed up blood on impact. “I’m not really the patient type when it comes to annoying scum like you. Either you tell us what this is about and why you were following us or I’m going to decorate the wall behind you with your brain!”

He instantly went pale. “Please … please don’t kill me! I’m telling you everything you want, just please don’t kill me.”

“There we go! So? Why did you follow us?” A mischievous-triumphant grin danced over Marliankens lips.

“My … my superiors ordered my to kidnap the woman from a foreign country as soon as she would leave Momons Guard.”

“That’s pretty thin my dear.” Slowly, she tilted her head to the side. “Someone hoping for mercy should spill a little more voluntarily, don’t you think?”

He hissed in panic. “They hope to get information about unknown, powerful magic or something the likes from you, to get back at Momon. Maybe something about his origin or relations to be able to blackmail him too!” Cold sweat covered his face.

“That’s really interesting. Who wanted those information’s again?”

“ … Zurrernorn.”

Marlianken slowly raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t the first time she came across the name of this cult, she had also gathered something about them while researching about her old friends activities outside Nazarick. That those dimwits wanted him dead was foreseeable, but operating this dumb was untypical. May desperation drove them? Thirst for revenge was much more likely and their leaders not being involved surely a given.

“Would you look at that … looks like some mid-ranked fool is trying to distinguish himself by avenging the fallen leaders. How stupid.” She laughed slightly and it was nowhere near friendly. “And further planning this poorly.”

The fear in the man’s eyes eased a little, until the chains dragged him to the floor with full force. He hissed and tried to fight, but trying was the best he could manage. The more he tried to free himself, the tighter the grip of the chains around his body grew. In front of him, the ominous woman crouched down and tilted her head again.

“How pathetic. Trying to kidnap a stranger without researching or preparation. And sending a complete fool takes the crown.”

The last remaining bit of live drained from his face. He started to panic, that wasn’t how he wanted to end. “Please … tell me what you want me to do and I …”

His shaky begging was interrupted by her laughter. She stood up and to his relieve the grip of the chains eased up. Though his relieve was only short lived, for she was reaching into black mists and pulled a simple duelling pistol out. Grinning she tossed it down to him.

“Since you were somewhat cooperative, you may end your live yourself.”

He didn’t believe his ears. Was she serious? “I did want you wanted! I told you everything I know! You wanted to spare me!”

Again she laughed and the malice containing caused his blood to freeze. “I never said I’d spare you. You just assumed I would, naïve as you are.”

Disbelieving and terrified he starred at the weapon in front of him. His thoughts were racing, he had to find a way to save his life and fast. Hoping for the adventurer Nabe to save him, was a losing gamble. She had watched the whole scene with a knowing smile on her face. If he wouldn’t come up with something fast, then he …

“Good grief, looks like I need to lend you a hand.” The woman shook her head with an annoyed sigh. “ **Take the pistol!”**

His body obeyed, despite him trying to withstand. “What’s that? What’s happening?”

**“Place it against your head!”**

Again his body obeyed, like he was a puppet and her words his strings. Now he understood, she was able to use domination spells! Panic pitched his voice, it sounded scratched and unpleasantly high. Tears were streaming down his face and he was crazily shivering. He could already feel death’s cold embrace, just as clear as the cold steel against his temple.

“Please … I beg of you … don’t do this! I can be of use to you! I can …”

**“Fire!”**

With the sound of the shot the wailing died. Only a body with a shredded head remained. Nobody seemed to have noticed the gunshot or it was simply decided to not paying attention to it.

“My, my … as if I would leave such talkative evidence. At least your corpse will have some actual use.” Pleased, Marlianken laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did it T.T  
> Boy this took ages ... writing, rewriting, deciding to leave things out, tossing them back in and then kicking them back out.
> 
> Anyways it's done. I'll be adding a Chapter-Title as soon as I'm able to decide on one (I'll take any suggestions ... ANY!)
> 
> hope you had fun reading it :D


	9. Trouble

„Okay so again for the stupid ones … that Zurrernorn follower with the shredded head is you doing?”

“Jup, nothing delivers a warning better than a corpse.”

“And the merchant they imprisoned last night, screaming at the air around him to leave him alone already?”

“Oh he will get funny, trust me.” Marlianken held a hand in front of her mouth and chuckled maliciously.

“Can you please take this serious?” Why had Ainz believed her psyche wouldn’t have adjusted to her demonic body? It wasn’t like he was more and more changing into an undead himself. “What were you thinking anyway? What if someone revives that idiot?” He was sitting next to her on the bed and buried his face in his hands.

“That’s impossible. The resurrection- magic of this world is extremely limited, the Body has to be mostly unimpaired to resurrect someone.” She crossed her legs and leaned back a little.

“So that’s why you forced him to blow his head away?” He sat back up.

“Partly.”

“Do I want to know about the other part?”

“Not really.” She rotated her head around to force a few cracks out of her neck.

“Uh hu. I guess you went through some more changes?”

“Apart from being able to kill humans in cold blood and having fun driving them into despair before doing it? Not as far as I know.”

“At least now I know that it’s not just me.”

“I get what you mean.” She flopped down on her back. “Realizing that you’ve become cold blooded overnight isn’t something you’ll easily swallow.”

“Oh yeah … I was totally baffled, when I crushed that one morons heart without even twitching an eye.” He chuckled slightly. “What was your first?”

“Turned one douche into modern art with a Soul Strike and pierced the other ones throat with Shadows.” She yawned.

“Well a Rapier is a stabbing weapon after all.” He rubbed his chin.

“You’re right.” She sat back up. “Now for a change: How’s the wristband?”

Ainz looked at the leather band around his wrist. It was one of Marliankens special magic items, one that contained a permanent Illusionary spell to make him look human. “That thing is amazing. I can even touch my face, almost as if I had a body of flesh again.”

“Glad to hear.”

“That clearly shows the differences between free accessible illusion spells and those of a Trickster. Having something like this from the start would have been really nice.” He smirked.

She laughed slightly. “Believe me when I say that I would have preferred to be with Nazarick right from the start. Wandering alone and being unable to trust anyone really takes it out of you.”

“Still you’re handling it like it’s no big deal.”

“Had enough time to adjust I guess.”

Ainz was dying to hear for how long she was already living in this world, but a knock at the door told him that Naberal was back. Mentally he was cursing like blazes. He would definitely find out for how long she was living here with time. After she was permitted to, Naberal entered the room and bowed to them.

“My Lord, My Lady.”

“Do you have some news?”

“The merchant Lady Marlianken punished will be sent to an asylum, due to his behaviour. There is nothing else apart from that.”

“Alright, then I guess it’s time.”

“Can’t wait.” Marlianken stood up and stretched a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 Another tacky ham later they were done with that nonsense and back within Nazarick. Together they walked the way from their quarters on the ninth floor to Ashirbunipal. Teleportation would have been faster, but Marliankens earring had no clearance for teleporting to or within the 10th floor. And Ainz thought that the workload wouldn’t magically run off. On the way he told her about everything that had happened within Nazarick. From the incident with Shalltear, of their little show in the Re-Estice capital, to his little experiment in Carne.

Unfortunately they reached their destination earlier than he had thought. Again, he was unable to find out for how long she had already lived in this world and now he would lose her to her work mania. At least he had taken precautions against her tendency to overdo it. Aside from the library staff lend by Titus, they were also greeted by Mare and Yuri. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he just shrugged.

“My Lord, my Lady.” They all bowed to them in unison.

“Mare and Yuri will help you too, at least until everything of strategic value is sorted out.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Uh hu.” **_Two watchdogs at once … great!_** She grinned at him cute enough to give someone diabetes. “Then let’s get started.”

Ainz felt a chill running down his spine. That was her ‘your-getting-this-shit-back’ grin. His precautions turned out to be a shot in his own foot. Maybe he should run while there was still a chance? Though he actually wanted to see how she would handle the situation. While he was still trying to decide if he should stay or run off, Marlianken already addressed those present.

“I thank you all for your will to assist here.” Everybody beamed at her. “First things first, please drop overly formal behaviour. It would only slow progress down.” Now they were baffled. “Alright, for starters I need to know which kind of prior knowledge you all have.” Puzzled looks were exchanged. “Let’s start with the very basics. Who is able to read the writing of this world?” Silence.

 Her expression went empty. “So we’re starting from scratch.” **_Oh for the love of …_** She wasn’t fond of the need to play teacher before she could get to actual work. Her students at least already were proficient in the languages they need for their studies, at least most of the time. She only had to teach them about the typical speech pattern of the respective time period.

She had no clue how to handle it. There were no lecture halls or classrooms. Lesson material was something she had to come up with on the fly. Not to mention that some learned faster than others. Her thoughts were interrupted by an oddly sweet voice.

“Lord Ainz. It’s a pleasant surprise to see you’re back this early.”

Of course that voice belonged to Shalltear. The vampire came closer and bowed to him, Marlianken was completely ignored by her. And Marlianken was thankful for it. Another round of bitching was the last thing she needed right now. Besides she had to restrain herself, otherwise she would have laughed at Shalltears overly sweet demeanour. The way she tried to flirt with Ainz was just awkward.

 ** _Alright girl, get you shit together … you need a plan for this … what would be the most effective way to teach them the written language of this world?_** Slowly but surely her mind went foggy. There was still so much to process from the stuff that had happened within a little more than 24 hours. Not having rested backfired now. She rubbed over her eyes with one hand. The chatter from the side line wasn’t helping. And then she heard something shatter.

Shalltear had ‘accidentally’ bumped into a table and an ink bottle had fallen down and shattered on the ground. **_Jup, that’s all I need!_** She gathered her thoughts back together.

“Reversal!” The spell caused the ink to flow back into the glass, the glass to reassemble itself and to fly back up unto the table, all in slow motion. Just like someone had reversed time. “Please be more careful.” Again Marlianken rubbed over her eyes. How badly she wanted a hot shower and some sleep.

“What? … How did you do that?” The vampire was honestly baffled, she didn’t knew this spell.

“That was chronomancy.”  Ainz laughed. That ‘Reversal’ had some actual use in this world was nothing he had thought of. In Yggdrasil it had been more of a gimmick. “Didn’t you know that one of Marliankens classes is ‘Chronomancer’?”

“No.” Shalltear looked like she was honestly ashamed. Though she was more ashamed of her little attempt to throw the succubus off balance had failed. Who could have known that she would simply reverse time? What a colossal failure! She decided to get her hands on any information about this woman prior to starting another attempt.

Meanwhile Marlianken had to some degree figured out how to get things going. “Alright. First we need a room big enough to fit everyone and enough tables. A blackboard or something like that would be helpful too.”

“I’ll immediately see to it my lady.” Yuri bowed and hurried away.

“Okay … paper and pens would be viable too. Writing letters yourself helps with memorizing.”

“I … I’ll get everything.” Mare too bowed and hurried of, though he dragged the staff with him to help him carrying everything they needed.

With one hand, Marlianken pulled a few loose hanging strands of her hair back. It was a start. Now she only needed to figure out how to teach them, without preparations or books. Under normal circumstances she always preferred to plunge in, but this time it wasn’t the case.

“My Lord, my Lady.” Albedos voice suddenly stopped Marliankens train of thoughts. She bowed slightly. “My apologies for disturbing you.”

“Albedo? Is something the matter?”

“My Lord, Envy has informed me that Demiurge has locked himself in his quarters for several hours and sends any visitor away.”

Ainz almost dropped the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, his jaw really dropped. Whereas Marlianken was hiding her face with one hand, trying to suppress an annoyed groan.

 

 

 

 

That hint by Envy was relatively late, Ainz und Marlianken agreed on that. If Demiurge had really locked himself up for this long, then there was a high chance that it was already too late. “Damn it, what the hell is he thinking? I told him to inform me if he thinks that anything is off.” Anger wasn’t the best reaction to this behaviour, but right at that moment Marlianken simply was mad at him.

“Why don’t you just wait until we get the chance to talk to him? Maybe he just needs some rest?” Ainz had already tried to calm her for several minutes, without success.

“Right … because he is the type to send everyone off and lock himself up to take a little nap. I got a really bad feeling about this.” Despite her anger, Marliankens look contained worries. Admittedly she seemed to attract misfortune of the ridiculously dumb kind. Still Ainz refused to expect the worst case scenario. Followed by a silent Albedo, they walked through the seventh floor and towards Demiurges quarters.

“Would you just calm down already? It’ll be alright.” The answer he got was a grumpy glare, nothing else. As the door came into view, both succubi stopped in their tracks. They both had a horrified look on their faces. Albedo even covered her mouth with one hand and it looked like a few tears were about to roll down. “What’s wrong?”

“And I told him that he’ll only make it worse if he tried anything on his own …” Her face twisted in a mix of anger and disbelieve, Marlianken covered it with one hand.

“How do you know?”

“The scent coming through that door is kind of a giveaway.” Her gaze changed from angry to pained. “Alright … looks like I’ll have to go in and help him.”

“Wait a second. What are going to do?”

“What do you think? Ensuring that he won’t go crazy of course.”

“Really? And how?”

“You’re acting like I haven’t explained things yesterday.” She crossed her arms. “But as you wish. Let’s discuss this thing through first. Demiurge is only losing his sanity in the meantime.”

Not being able to show his emotions through expressions was more of a disadvantage at that moment. “I really don’t like this.” He looked at the still at the door staring Albedo. If it had only been Marlianken who picked up on this scent, he wouldn’t have been this alarmed. But Albedos behaviour clearly showed how severe things actually were. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Never had he expected such a shaky sigh from Marlianken. “I don’t know, but if I’m not going then Demiurge is paying a way too heavy price.” Not only her voice was shaking, her body was shivering too and something haunted mixed into her pained gaze.

While Marlianken was getting uneasier with every second passing, Albedo seemed to recover from her shock in the same amount of time. Her face went from horrified to irritated. “Please do excuse me Lady Marlianken, I know we don’t have much time but may I have a talk with you in private?”

“Fine by me.” Her haunted and pained expression now also contained confusion. Marlianken officially wasn’t herself at the moment. The women left Ainz’ hearing range.

Puzzled himself, Ainz watched them. It seemed like Albedo was irritated by something, but at the same time distressed too. Whereas Marlianken looked absent.  Something must have caused Albedo to snap, at least judging by the tear that was rolling down her cheek. He saw how Marlianken twisted her face in disbelieve, then she rubbed her temples in annoyance and finally she looked at Albedo with a horrified stare. Albedos reaction was looking like a dear in headlights, both hands covering her mouth. Marlianken was again pulling some loose strands out of her face and then stemmed her hands into her hips and Oh, he knew that accusing glare way too well. Her posture eased up, while Albedo bowed her head in shame, her cheeks red. Finally Marlianken turned back to him and walked back to him with quick steps.

“Mind telling me what this was about?”

“I’ll leave that to Albedo.” Marlianken looked at her over her shoulder. “And while you’re already having a little chat, maybe you can tell her a thing or two about jumping to conclusions and getting others into trouble in the process.” The cold, disapproving look in Marliankens eyes made it unnecessary to say anything else.

“Now would you look at that.” Ainz understood instantly. “I guess this means I can take that thing off?” He pointed to the control necklace.

“Looks like it. But make it quick.” While saying it, she already turned around and pulled her hair out of the way. He opened the clasp and with a metallic screech shadows darted out of it and the light inside the stone died. She caught the necklace mid fall and tossed it back to him, with him catching it smoothly. “Keep it. Maybe you’ll be needing it someday.”

“If you insist … Albedo we’re leaving!” The addressed one flinched, Ainz’ voice sounded more than angry. That this anger wasn’t chastened by the emotion suppression, typical for his kind of undead, clearly showed in what kind of trouble she was in. Without waiting for an answer, Ainz turned to leave. He knew she would follow.

Having left the teleport-free zone he looked at her over his shoulder. “To my quarters. We need to talk!”

“Of course my lord.” She still held her head low.

They both teleported right in front of Ainz’s quarters. He opened the door with more force than necessary, went for his desk without paying attention to anything else and simply flopped down on his chair. Albedo followed him obediently.

“Everyone expect for Albedo leaves this room.” Nobody dared to object, they were all able to sense his anger and obeyed immediately without saying a single word. The door closed behind them and Ainz impatiently tapped repeatedly on his desk. “I’m listening.”

Albedo was shrinking down in her posture. “My lord I made a horrible mistake. One I will never be able to compensate for.”

“You don’t say!” She flinched. “I want to know what the two of you were talking about. Now!”

“I … I unjustly assumed that you and lady Marlianken had relations of romantic nature. As I sensed her reaction to the scent coming from Demiurges quarters I lost my composure.” She started to tremble. “That Demiurge now is in this state, is my fault. If I hadn’t behaved this disgraceful, then he wouldn’t had to make the choice to let her control him completely.”

“Succubi are said to be able to tell everything about someone’s sexual life by their scent, if I recall right. Is that true?”

“Yes my lord.”

“Then tell me, how bad is it?”

“I’m unable to ascertain it by the scent alone.”

“Guess I’ll have to wait until Marlianken gives notice.” **_Shit!_** It had to end like this! Right from the start he assumed that the way of least resistance will blow up in his face. And he had been right! It had always been like this, even back when he was a child. Not simply declining back then had been the most stupid decision he had ever made. Wave after wave of emotion suppression washed over him without even slightly chastening his anger.

“You better should hope that Demiurge isn’t getting any permanent damage from this!”

She wasn’t losing a single word, but her posture, especially how she pressed her lips to a thin line, showed him how ashamed of herself she was.

 

 

 

 

Ainz hated to just sit there and wait. For how long was Marlianken now taking care of Demiurge without giving notice? 10 hours? 11? He hadn’t really paid attention, let alone looked at a clock, but it had to be at least half a day. **_For fucks sake, I want to know what’s going on!_**

Someone knocked.

“Come in!”

Marlianken opened the door and entered, much to his relieve. Her expression was giving him a bad feeling though. He wasn’t used to see her with a grave look on her face. “We got a problem.”

He ran a hand over his skull. “I feared that we have. Come on, sit down. Can you give me some details?” She walked over to the sofa and sat down, he himself got up from his desk to join her. “How bad is it?”

“The poor one got the full package.”

“Oh for the love of …” Ainz buried his face in his hands.

“The good news is, he hasn’t lost his sanity.”

“And the bad one?”

“He’ll be out of commission for some time.”

That was the last thing Ainz had needed. Just as he had taken on the Baharuth Empire, his head- strategist went out of commission. A complete catastrophe.

“For how long?”

“If we’re lucky a few days, if not weeks even months maybe.” She slightly shook her head and crossed her arms. “What’s more that it will be far from easy for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I gave him the choice between fast but difficult or slow but easy. Guess what he chose.”

“He chose difficult, right?”

“Jup.”

“Shit … can you keep him from going crazy?”

“I’m doing my best, but this one isn’t going to be easy.” She shifted her piercing again. “There’s no guarantee, to many variables.”

“I see.” He again ran a hand over his skull, while she stood up. “You’re heading back?”

“I have to… Leaving him alone for more than just a couple of minutes would be the dumbest thing to do.” She was already heading for the door.

“Good Luck!”

“Thanks!” She flashed him a crooked smile over her shoulder before leaving the room, leaving Ainz alone with the maid on duty and the eight-legged assassins.

He leaned back and crossed his arms. No matter his worries, he had to settle more than a few things to prevent a chaos-break out. Why had he entrusted this much to Demiurge again? It would have been wiser to split it some more. It would have prevented this mess from getting this big. Not to mention the language instruction for those assigned to help Marlianken with the archive.

 ** _Alright … I guess I can leave the language instruction to Titus … but Demiurges duties will become difficult. There has to be a way to solve this._** Suddenly he had a dazzling idea. It would solve at least a part of his problem. Slowly he stood up.

“Foth.” The maid flinched.

“Yes my lord?”

“Tell Albedo and Shalltear to come to me.”

“As you wish my lord.” She immediately hurried away while Ainz was again taking seat behind his desk.

 

 

 

 

Only a few Minutes later, someone knocked at his door and on his permission to enter, Albedo and Shalltear came in. They stopped at an appropriate distance in front of him and bowed.

“At your service my lord.”

“I assume you both know why I called for you?”

“Yes.” Albedo again was shrinking down in her posture.

“Indeed.” Shalltear showed no signs of being ashamed.

“Marlianken informed me about Demiurges condition.” As he mentioned her name, Albedo flinched and Shalltear balled her hands to fists. “To summarize things up, it is uncertain if he will completely recover.” He paused on purpose and took a deep breath. “But it is a given, that he will be out of commission for some time.”

They both stared at him, horrified.

“May I ask for how long this will be my lord?”

“It is uncertain.”

Albedo looked like she was about to cry and Shalltear wasn’t hiding her anger very well. Her whole body was quivering with rage. Again this unbearable woman managed to make her look stupid. And why had Demiurge allowed her to control him? It made no sense to her. Sacrificing oneself for the unofficial one was imbecile in her opinion. Only the supreme beings were worthy of such willingness to sacrifice oneself. She had to change the situation to her favour somehow.

“My lord, please do excuse me, but what part do we have in this?”

Asking him this question wasn’t the brightest idea. His anger was suddenly sensible and he was covered in an aura that caused Shalltear to shiver in fear.

“You’re really asking this? If it wasn’t for the fuss the two of you were making, none of this would have happened!”

“But my lord …”

“ENOUGH!”

She immediately kept it shut.

“I have already decided on a suitable punishment for the two of you. Additionally to your own duties you will assist Pulcinella until Demiurge has recovered. Are we clear?”

They weren’t trusting their ears. They would assist Pulcinella? They would carry out duties of an underling?

“Please do excuse me my lord. Which kind of duties are you talking about?”

“Anything Pulcinella entrusts you with. As long as Demiurge is absent, Pulcinella will handle most of his duties. As his right hand he already possesses the knowledge needed.”

So they hadn’t misheard. Degraded to underlings of an underling, that was maximum punishment! Still they didn’t dare to object. Lord Ainz was already angry enough.

“I’ll be taking your silence as a sign that you understand. You may leave.” Ainz pinched the bridge of his nose.

Both women left the room. After they were far enough away from lord Ainz’ quarters, Shalltear started to blurt out everything on her mind.

“I can’t believe it! Degraded to underlings of an underling! And everything just because that moron was so eager to sacrifice himself!” She threw her hands up. “He should have killed that bitch while he had the chance. But NO, he had to not only chicken out and dragged her back here too.”

“Shalltear please stop that.” Albedo was staring at the floor. Her hands were clutching to the skirt of her dress.

“What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden? Didn’t we agree on us needing to get rid of that beast? Don’t tell me you’re ducking out!” The vampire crossed her arms.

“I am serious. You should not lose another bad word about Lady Marlianken.”

“Excuse me?” She grimaced disgusted.

“I told you about everything I recently learned about them, remember?”

“Yes, yes … that they went to school together and that someone was reading them bedtime stories. What about it?”

Her whole body shivering, Albedo finally looked up. “They grew up together, like siblings.”

Shalltears expression instantly faltered. “Wait … does that mean that?”

“Yes it does. They may not be blood related, but to lord Ainz lady Marlianken is his little sister.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who got her groove back :D
> 
> I wanted to write this little part right from the start but well ... world building and stuff  
> Did anyone believe that the control thingy wouldn't backfire? Of course it would, because drama :D
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it


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